Assassin series RE: Turtotopia
by Askre5
Summary: Donatello switches places with an Alternative version of himself that like him is intelligent and scientifically minded but there their similarities end. AU Don is not at all a mellow turtle.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Story originally written and posted on 23/11 2005

Welcome to Turtotopia, the fic that started it all. This is the first story in the Assassin series. It happens in 2k3 world and features the 2k3-turtles.

The events of this story happen roughly after the first season episode "The shredder strikes" from the 2k3 Cartoon.

This is the remastered version of Turtotopia.

* * *

 **Disclaimer and Legal stuff:**

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®, including Raphael®, Michelangelo®, Leonardo®, Donatello®, April O'Neil®, and Splinter® are registered trademarks of Viacom International Inc. Based on characters and comic books created by Peter A. Laird and Kevin B. Eastman.

I do not own them in other words.

This story is written purely as a homage to the Teenage Mutant Turtles and not meant for any commercial profit or infringement on copyright. This story will immediately be removed if Viacom International wishes so.

AU turtles are based off the TMNT.

The story, is copyright © 2005 by Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).

 **Warning: This story will contain violence and torture. If you don't like to see characters suffer this is not a story for you. If you are of a sensitive mind, then you have been warned. Story is rated T**

 **This story is canon to the Assassin series.**

 **This story is part of the Main story line of the Assassin series and is the 1st official long instalment.**

 _Sum: Donatello switches places with an Alternative version of himself that like him is intelligent and scientifically minded but there their similarities end. AU Don is not at all a mellow turtle._

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _Log entry #2413: It's been few days since we defeated the Shredder, although the honor really goes to, Master Splinter. Our wounds are healing, Mike's ankle has made full recovery and I…_

Donatello stopped typing on his computer when hearing a loud crash coming from somewhere outside. He flinched and dearly hoped that hadn't been anything he needed to fix immediately. The turtle really wasn't in the mood at the moment, but only bit later there was:

"Dooon?"

 _Oh great, and now comes the 'you are my favorite turtle' voice,_ Donatello sighed and closed the window for his log. He turned in the computer chair to face the entrance to his room. Mikey stood in the doorway holding one of many televisions from the television mountain he had organized down on the main floor.

"Mikey, don't tell me you need this fixed. Don't you have enough TVs on that monolith of yours?" Don asked but then noticed the screen. It was shattered. "What the shell happened to that?

"Raph punched it, but he was actually aiming for me. I ducked but was standing in front of the TVs," the orange-clad turtle explained trying his best to grin innocently.

"You guys are breaking your records. Just yesterday I had to fix the stove, the fridge, your game-boy, both your and Raph's shell-cells, the dvd player and Leo's alarm clock and that was all in one evening. It's barely lunch and you already got me something to fix," Don sighed in frustration when the pleading eyes came his way. The olive-green ninja motioned his brother to come in with the TV.

"This one will take a while, it obviously needs a new screen and probably parts on the inside," he shook his head. "I'll start on it in a bit and tell Raph to mind his aim next time."

"I will. Thanks, Don," Mikey grinned wide and ran out of the room. "Hey Raph, Donny says you need your aim fixed!"

"I did not say that!" Don called after him then palmed his face groaning and mumbling something about pestering brothers. He turned back to his computer turning back on the log.

 _I would be lying if I said I didn't like fixing things and even make them better, but there are times I wonder if the guys could go five minutes without breaking something. Oh well maybe that is an exaggeration…_

 _I had better take a look at that TV so it's done, just in case they manage to bring me something more to fix._

Again he turned off the log and faced the broken TV. He removed the case to reveal the innards. The turtle wasn't terribly surprised to see that everything was a mess there; Raph was not a light puncher.

"A trip to the dump is in order." He stood up, never seeing the explosion coming.

* * *

Three turtles looked in shock up towards the entrance of the room that belonged to Donatello. Quickly all of them climbed up to the second level and rushed to the room. Black smoke was pouring out.

"Don? Donny?" Leonardo tried to see inside but there was too much smoke. However, when he was about to enter a figure stumbled out. Leo quickly seized his purple-clad brother as he was about to fall, coughing and disoriented.

"What happened, Don?" the blue-clad turtle asked while steadying the sod-covered turtle.

"I…I…" Donatello looked up. His gaze fixed on Raphael, for a second there was a mild shock and confusion on his eyes. His head turned towards very worried Mikey, the purple-clad turtle's eye ridge rose higher. Don shook his head and stood up straight before glancing at Leo. "I… I need bathroom…"

"I'll help you there," Leo offered and supported the purple-clad ninja away from the room. Mikey followed, half-afraid that he had somehow brought an explosive television to his brother. Raphael hesitated and entered the room as it was clearing up, his eye-ridges rose in surprise.

 _Funny, no damage?_ Everything was clean, except for a part of the room that had sod all over it. The computer had escaped; the only casualty was the already dead television. There was nothing left but pile of ashes. The red-masked ninja scratched his head before shrugging it off and left the room.

* * *

In the bathroom, Donatello was leaning over the sink and cleaning up. He took his time at it, casually glancing at Leonardo from time to time who stood in the doorway worries dripping from his face.

"So Don, what happened?" Leo tried again to ask.

"I…I don't remember… just suddenly this explosion." Don rose to stare at the mirror above the sink. His face had burn marks on him but that was not what got his attention, he frowned and began to poke and prod his purple mask.

"Something wrong with your mask?" Mikey peered over Leo's shoulder; Donatello just gave them a strange glare. He noticed the elbow pads and his wristbands and began to examine them as if he had never seen these before.

"Don?" Leonardo found this behavior very curious; Don had reached his belt looking at it with confusion. Then the turtle stared at his kneepads.

"I think I need to lie down," Donatello declared and unsteadily walked towards them.

"You want something to eat? Lunch is almost ready," Mikey offered as Don reached the entrance. Again he was awarded with a very strange look from his brother.

"You cook?" he asked almost sounding surprised, but it was nothing compared to the looks on his brothers.

"Uh yeah," the orange-clad ninja answered.

"Are you feeling all right?" Leo asked, regarding his brother with a mix of concern and confusion.

Donatello put a palm tiredly on his head and decided simply to stumble out of the bathroom. He was barely past his brothers when seeing Splinter standing nearby.

"Are you well my son?" he asked, concern and worry in his voice and face. The aged sensei received a blank stare. It was as if Donatello did not recognize him.

"Just need… lie down," Don muttered. The old rat nodded and with a simple glance at Leonardo gave the order that he should assist his brother to his room. The blue-clad turtle did so without hesitation. On his mind the question on what had happened still burned. However, Donatello didn't seem to be in any condition to start telling, so he decided not to ask for the third time.

* * *

"I don't know. I went in there with the TV Raph broke and next thing I know is that there is an explosion and black smoke coming from Don's room," Mikey was explaining to their sensei what they had witnessed when Leonardo returned from the second floor.

"And the funny thing is it looked like it was the TV that exploded. At least here was nothing left of it," Raphael added. "And even stranger, there was no other damage."

"Well except for some burn marks, he looked all right. But he was really disoriented." Leo stepped into the discussion as he came closer. They were all standing nearby the bathroom now.

"We will allow Donatello to rest before inquiring on what happened. He must not be disturbed so I will ask you to quell any playful antics for the rest of the day," Splinter warned them before leaving for his room.

The three turtles shrugged, Mike retreated to the kitchen to finish what he had been preparing for lunch. Leo began a kata in the dojo are. Raphael went for the punching bag.

The two turtles didn't stop their work out until an orange-clad head peeked out of the kitchen and called:

"Lunch is ready!"

The three turtles failed to notice the two eyes staring at them from his room on the second level. A brow furrowed in a heavy thought, a hand thoughtfully rubbing his chin.

 _Leo? Raph? Mike? All at the same age? How can this be?_ he thought, his mouth formed a slight sneer. _And that rat man, called me his son? I don't recall having a rat as a father._

Donatello walked back towards the bed and sat on it. He glanced back and forth examining every inch of the room. Scowled at where the sod covered part of the wall, the table and even some of the computer.

 _And what's with this gear?_ Don began once more to examine his pads and then removed the purple mask to look at it. _Good color though._

 _All right, think, what was I doing? First, I hooked him to the Thought Process Analyzer and had him take the… no it was after that, yes the transpad. Tella informed me of a glitch in it, I was going over it… I was… yes taking it apart,_ Donatello stood back up and began to pace around.

 _Then there was this explosion… and then the next thing I know I'm stumbling out of this room… pretty much naked and meet… my brothers? And a rat who thinks I'm his son? Wait, they sounded concerned…_

He stopped pacing as the realization hit him. Quickly the turtle jumped to the computer and first tried to work on the keyboard. When nothing happened the reptile noticed the mouse and sighed in frustration.

"Grrr…" He fell silent and used the mouse to click around on the screen. "Here it is, Internet."

He began to use the keyboard and after few strokes almost choked, so surprised was the turtle.

 _No it cannot be. I am literally in another world. No Turtotopia?_ Don didn't notice he was squeezing the mouse so hard it almost cracked. His teeth were gritting in anger and frustration. _It took me more than two years to get that far and now I have been hurled into another world?_

 _Another world where they don't hate the name Donatello, where Donatello is probably not a word of fear whispered among the populace. Where he lives with his brothers in peace,_ the turtle seemed to realize and calmed down a bit as he thought about this information. One hand began once more to rub his chin thoughtfully. _Hm, a completely new world where my reputation is clean, that offers possibilities._

A grin was about to form on him but it froze when remembering a slight detail. _But what about Donatello of this world, they clearly thought they were talking to him. It means they knew he had to be in this room at the time of the explosion…_

For the third time in less than an hour he began to examine his pads. Donatello eyed the mask he had laid on the bed. _I sure as hell was not wearing this…_

 _Great; the transpad explosion must have switched us. If I'm here and wearing his clothes, if you can call this clothes, then he must have been warped to my world and is wearing my clothes… wait what kind of sense does that make? Oh forget it, not important right now._

He stood up from the computer. Again Don started to pace around, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips.

 _I better do something and soon, they will be coming and check on me, see if I'm all right…_ but casual glances around revealed nothing that he deemed useful. He eyed the computer. _I had better find some information about this world's Donatello. His behavior and things like that and find more about my 'brothers' as well. They look a tad bit different from mine; I guess I need to play nice while I'm figuring this out._ _  
_  
He casually walked to the entrance and peeked out, his eyes opened wide in shock as the lower level of the lair was revealed to him.

Raphael had returned to his punching bag but was punching at much more ferocity than before, adding various ninja style kicks and chops. He even picked up his sai, spun them on his fingers before viciously stabbing around the bag.

Leonardo and Mike were sparring; the blue-clad one wielded his double katana skillfully blocking the incoming nunchaku attacks from Michelangelo. They would also try various kicks and punches at speed that hardly registered.

 _Scratch the play just nice. I'm going to play, docile, nice, PLEASE DON'T HURT ME Donatello, while figuring this out._ Don's jaw had dropped at the sight below him. Earlier he had just missed Leo doing his kata and Raphael had only been doing some light boxing moves. Now the three turtles were really going at it in a full out training session.

* * *

 **Elsewhere**

Donatello woke up with a groan and slowly rose up from the cold metal floor he was lying on. The ninja rubbed his spinning head before looking up and blinked in surprise.

 _Eh, huh?_ He spotted immediately that he was not in his room; this one was a bit too large and dimly lit. Don saw various computer equipments up against walls and in the middle of the room. The turtle spotted few stasis tubes, capable of holding life forms the size of humans, they glowed an eerie purple color.

 _The… where am I?_ The ninja slowly looked around and at the floor. It was then he noticed his attire, black boots and pants. At further inspection, he was also wearing a black jacket, over a large black shirt that could actually cover his shell. On the right side of the jacket was small emblem, purple in color in the shape of a turtlehead. Mutant turtlehead and behind it two lines formed an X.

 _I must be dreaming,_ Don tucked at the jacket, patted the pockets and inspected the boots. The only conclusion it gave was that he was wearing clothes and didn't have his pads or mask.

He turned around and noticed the platform the turtle was standing nearby, a panel on it was open exposing some wires and tubes. A toolbox was on the floor close to the panel. Donatello raised an eye-ridge backing few steps still staring at it.

"Where am I?" he asked again but now aloud, although the ninja didn't expect an answer. It looked like Don was alone in this room.

"You are in your private laboratory Emperor Donatello," said a female voice. Donatello jumped startled and looked around franticly but couldn't see anybody.

"Who said that?" he asked with eyes wide open. He continued to shift his head back and forth.

"I am Tella, your artificial intelligent unit you installed in your private laboratory to analyze your equipment and help speed up experiments," the voice answered.

"Artificial intelligent? You mean you are all those computers?" Don asked pointing at the equipment all around him.

"That is correct," Tella responded. For a moment the purple-clad one was fascinated to be speaking to an actual artificial intelligent. A computer actually capable to talk back, but then reality kicked him back to focus.

"Wait, what did you just call me earlier?" Don looked up trying to see the speakers Tella probably had to use for him to hear her. During the search, the ninja spotted a larger version of the emblem on his jacket painted on the wall. This time it had two sinister looking eyes and the lines could almost be called Bo staffs.

"I called you by your self-appointed title. Emperor Donatello, ruler of Turtotopia," Tella answered obediently.

"E-emp-emper-Emperor?" If it could have Don's jaw would have scraped the floor. "Ruler of Turtotopia?"

"Is there a problem Emperor Donatello, perhaps you are disoriented after the explosion that occurred from the transpad. It would then be advisable to sit down and rest for few minutes." There was actual concern in Tella's voice. However, Donatello paid it no mind; he was still digesting his sudden promotion from a sewer dwelling ninja turtle to an emperor.

"Emperor… ruler? How?" Don grabbed his head and spun around as if he was trying to spot an escape from this madness, but the turtle couldn't see a doorway anywhere.

"Over three years ago you began experimenting on a new technology that allowed the user to hear what another person was thinking. As the experiment processed you discovered that with few alterations the devices could be used to control the minds of people. At first, you used these mind control machines to help you and your brothers to survive. However, few months later you felt these devices could help you live a better life. Your brothers didn't agree, and were starting to question the ethics of using mind control devices to survive. You decided to go and do this on your own," Tella suddenly began to explain. Don figured that she was designed to answer questions, no matter what kind. Half-intrigued he continued to listening to the story.

"You started by having people rob technical equipment to help you build whatever you needed for better life. You built an underground fortress and from there began mass-producing intelligent machines that obeyed your every command. Once you had all this, you decided that you couldn't trust humans to be your soldiers nor did you want to build robots."

"Eh, ok," Don scratched the back of his head. This was just becoming weirder and weirder and somehow it felt like there was something missing from the story. It felt very abridged.

"You wanted to create more fellow turtle mutants like yourself, but realized that you would need what originally transformed you and your brothers. And you thought you knew how to get samples to analyze and create it again."

 _Wait, she is not going with this where I think this is going?_ Don frowned.

"You attacked your old home in order to abduct your brothers; none of them stood a chance against your machines and you had them locked up in your underground fortress. You knew you only needed one of them to get test sample needed and you chose your youngest brother, Michelangelo."

 _No._ Don almost felt sick but shook it off. _Surely he hadn't killed him. He should have found out that the ooze only mutated our DNA, it isn't actually inside of us. Then again, he could have found that out by taking a blood sample out of himself._

"As you were still angry towards your brothers for not joining you and questioning your motifs, you tortured Michelangelo for days before finally extracting test samples. You then discovered that your brothers did not actually contain the substance needed. In your frustration of that discovery you killed Michelangelo."

Donatello's face almost turned white in shock and horror at hearing this. He swallowed something and wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead. Unfortunately, Tella was not finished.

"Your older brother Raphael managed to escape from his cell and attempted to save Michelangelo. You had your machines attack him, and he was mortally wounded. But instead of killing him, you had him put in stasis to keep him alive for further…"

"All right, stop!" Don shouted finding himself unable to hear more of this horrific tale. When there had been silence for few seconds he sighed in relief.

"Ok Tella or whatever your name is, skip this part. So I learned that I couldn't create the ooze that mutated me and my brothers," he started, muttering 'big surprise' between his teeth. "What did I do then?"

"As you couldn't recreate the substance needed you resorted to cloning. With help of some genetic tweaking no two clones looked alike."

"And so I used clones to create Turtotopia?" Don started to shake his head in disbelief. _Okay there is definitely parts missing in this story. No way could anyone do all this all alone. He had to have help from somewhere._

"Correct, it took you one year to create enough soldiers to begin your conquest. With them and your other technologies, you managed to conquer most of North America and good portion of Central- America before your advance was halted. It has been at standstill for a year now."

"This can't be real," Donatello whispered and slowly walked deeper into the room. He shook his head madly. "This isn't real, I'm dreaming. Please tell me I'm just in coma from the explosion and this is some short of a nightmare."

"D-Donatello?" a whispering voice addressed him. Don stopped and looked to his left. Up against a wall, in what looked like a chair sat a figure. He couldn't see it clearly and it flinched when noticing that it had his full attention.

"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry….your highness…should have said…your highness," it stammered. Donatello realized that the voice was disturbingly familiar.

"Can I have more light here?" Don asked and immediately bright lights from the ceiling illuminated the whole room. The walls and the floor were still black, but now at least he could see the lab better and the figure winching frightened in the chair.

 _Oh my god,_ Donatello wished he hadn't asked for more light.

In front of him on a steel chair, strapped by the wrists and ankles was a mutant turtle. Embedded into the side of his head was a small device of some short and producing from it were wires that connected to a computer. Scars after needles covered both his arms and he was bruised all over the body.

Donatello felt his heart sink; there was a huge pit in his stomach. His head began to swim again. The turtle in front of him, it looked almost exactly like his brother.

"Leo?" Don whispered. The other reptile only looked away; too frightened to stare him in the face, whispering various apologizes for addressing Donatello without permission.

 **End chapter 1**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 27/11 2005

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **Turtotopia**

Donatello couldn't take his eyes from this disturbing scene. He looked exactly like Leonardo sans mask, pads and katana belt. However, this Leo was broken and battered, malnourished and didn't dare to look up fearing punishment if he did.

The ninja didn't care whatever was going on. Don rushed to the chair fully intending to free the turtle from this torture chamber, but a familiar female voice sounded just as he was about to loosen the straps on the wrist.

"It would be advisable to disconnect the thought process analyzer before releasing subject M-00000001," Tella informed him.

Don's eyes glanced at the device on Leo's head and traced the wires going from it to the computer nearby. All the time he was patting the frightened turtle on the shoulder reassuringly.

"Can you disconnect it?" he asked.

"Negative, computer control in your personal laboratory has to be done by you Emperor Donatello."

 _Great._ Don shifted to the computer. It was large, the screen embedded into the wall and the console was high enough so he could easily stand by it. Not really knowing how to start, he simply tried typing in 'disconnect'.

"Thought processor has been disconnected," Tella announced. Don nodded rather pleased it had been so easy. He turned back to the other turtle who was smiling slightly in relief, as if something heavy had just been lifted off him. It disappeared instantly when he noticed the attention.

"Ok Leo, let's get you out of this contraption," Don began to un-strap him.

"S-s-so e-early… w-was the t-t-test a-a success?" Leo asked, between the stutter there was audible surprise. Donatello looked up from where he was untying the ankles, Leonardo winched and looked away and began once more to utter various apologies.

"Tella or whatever, what exactly was he being tested for?" Don asked not taking his eyes off the squirming turtle.

"Subject M-00000001 is your main thought process test subject," was the answer.

"T-test? Test subject? He is a test subject? He is being used as a test subject?" The usually purple clad ninja was completely at lack of words. He finished untying the turtle, removed the device from his head and pulled him off the chair. Leo was too weak to stand and would have collapsed to the floor if Donatello hadn't supported him. He lowered him gently down.

"You are so pale, when is the last time you ate?" Don asked not letting go of the shivering turtle. Leonardo glanced carefully up but didn't look straight at him.

"Y-you f-f-forbid…"

"I did not forbid anything, listen… I know this will sound very weird, but I am not who you think I am." Donatello received only a blank stare. _This is not going to be easy._

"Arg, I don't even know what is going on yet and I'm trying to explain myself." Don sighed in frustration and eyed around. He spotted the platform again. "What is this platform?"

"That is the transpad, it transports scientific supplies you need to this lab from various corners of Turtotopia," Tella responded.

 _Transport? Wait I woke up next to it and she mentioned there was an explosion. I had been working on Mikey's television when an explosion occurred from that… Turtotopia, Emperor Donatello… Leo._ Donatello looked at the turtle he was kneeling besides. _I must have been transported… transported to another world. Alternative Universe where… oh shell._

He sat down as it hit him. _I'm in a universe where I am not exactly the most popular person. Where I went ballistic, killed one of my brothers, almost killed another and the third is being used as a test subject… started to conquer the world…_

 _Alright time to get serious Don, you are in a deep mess now. Stuck in a world where your alternative version is a mad scientist who has actually managed to conquer some of the world… come to think of it, where is my evil double?_ Don's head slowly lowered as he once more examined his black clothing.

 _If I'm wearing what is probably his usual clothes… Tella thinks I am him… I woke up near this transpad…oh no… my double… he is in my world._ Donatello gulped _. Ok, panic in 3…2…1…_

* * *

 **2k3 TMNT world**

"Glad he helped innocent people? He actually is a bloody do-gooder?" Emperor Donatello of Turtotopia growled. He glared daggers at the computer screen. He was reading the logs of his ninja counterpart.

"Something wrong?"

The emperor froze, before turning in the seat he quickly washed away the scowl and put up a much more bored expression.

"Ah… no nothing… I was just thinking out loud," he answered Mikey who stood in the doorway. Donatello narrowed his eyes. "Knocking a foreign word for you?"

"Sorry bro, just wanted to see if you were ok," the other turtle smiled. "I'm sorry I brought that television… I didn't know it was going to explode in your face."

 _Well it didn't actually; it probably exploded in your Donatello's face._ Donatello's brow dropped in a frown while thinking. Mikey gulped, fearing that his usually calm and patient brother had finally lost all patience and calm. Last time that happened, Raph was chased around the lair with a sledgehammer.

"Don't worry about it," Don said turning back to the computer. "But I would appreciate to be alone for a while."

"You sure you don't want something to eat? Splinter didn't allow us to wake you for lunch and well…"

"What part of 'be alone' don't you understand?" Donatello raised his voice; Mikey was quick to disappear out of the doorway. However, the evil overlord didn't have any time to breathe a sigh in relief, Leonardo appeared in the entrance.

"Don, are you feeling all right?" the blue-masked ninja asked. Still with his back turned to the other turtle, Donatello's face disfigured in a new scowl.

 _This. Will. Not. Be. Easy._ He was slowly trying to calm himself before facing the intruder. He changed back to the bored expression and turned once more.

"As a matter of fact I am still feeling a bit dizzy from the explosion, as well it looks like that it has made my memory a bit hazy. I seem to have holes in my memory," Donatello lied. Leonardo stepped inside visibly worried.

"Memory holes? You mean you can't remember things?" he asked. Don fought the temptation to snap back at the obvious statement. It came out as if he was suffering something since he closed his eyes and looked down.

"Yes," he said between his teeth. Opening his eyes, the turtle looked back at the counterpart of his brother. _This is an insult to my intelligence. I should not need to be excusing myself to that…no calm down, you will deal with this later. Right now you need information. You saw him fight, he can hack you into pieces._

"But you still remember us?" Leo gestured outside, he had tried to approach when Don looked to be in pain but was waved off.

"I remember names, Leonardo?" Don wasn't terribly surprised that Leonardo nodded with a smile. "Michelangelo was here earlier… and then there is Raphael."

"I don't remember… the rat." The emperor faked a distressed face.

"You don't remember Master Splinter?" Leonardo asked shocked. Donatello nodded and to add to his act grabbed his head looking down.

"I don't remember this karate thing either…"

"Ninjitsu, this is more serious than I thought." Leo walked all the way to Don and put a hand on his shoulder. Again, Donatello had to fight his temptation to lash out and allowed this brotherly concern, for now. "But don't worry Don, we are here for you and will help you through this."

"Thanks…Leo." As his face was covered with his palms, the grin plastered on his lips escaped the other turtle. _What an idiot, he swallowed this hook line and sinker._

"I want to be alone, for a little while longer," the emperor claimed. Leonardo nodded patting him on the back.

"We will be right there if you need us," Leo said before leaving the room. Donatello shook his head withholding a chuckle.

 _Ok, maybe this will be easier than I thought._ he turned back to the computer and proceeded with his earlier task, reading this world's Donatello's logs.

 _Hm by the sound of his logs, he has intelligence and is an inventor. Must check his stuff out, maybe I can modify it to my liking. This world is around the same technological level and before I took over, that limits me somewhat but not by much._

 _But I am going to have to deal with my 'brothers' eventually and the rat, I won't be able to keep up this façade forever._ The Emperor leaned back in the chair rubbing his chin as he considered his options.

 _The rat probably poses the most danger as he is the father of the others. He might soon enough find out that I…_

"Hey April is calling, she was asking if we could help her out at her store," he heard Mikey call from the outside, interrupting his thoughts.

"Tell her we are on our way and would be glad to help," Leo responded.

 _April? April… I had forgotten about her, I haven't seen this world's Donatello mention her in these logs. Strange… maybe I hadn't gotten that far yet._ The Emperor began looking frantically over the other logs.

"Don, you think you are well enough to come with us to April's?" A voice addressed him. It was Leo again, but this time he was not met with a bored expression but a very eager face.

"Sure." Donatello stood up, not even realizing that he was sporting a strange grin. Leonardo raised his brow but said nothing, simply gestured his brother to follow.

 _I knew the two of them are on good terms, after all both are like minded. Mikey has sometimes implied there is more… nah it can't be._ The blue clad turtle shook the thought out of his mind. "Hey Don wait, you forgot your Bo staff."

 _My what?_ Don stopped and turned, Leonardo had grabbed the long wooden weapon from his room and was handing him it.

"Um, so I guess that's my weapon," Don stated accepting the staff. The blue masked turtle nodded. _So I take it that Don of this world also knows this fighting thing. Great, just great._

* * *

 **Turtotopia**

He stared at who he thought was his tormentor for the past few years. The black clad figure just sat there staring motionless into air, held his head and muttered something in what sounded like a panicked voice.

"A-are y-you all right… your highness," he risked asking despite fearing the punishment of addressing without permission. There was one thing Leo's alternative version had never lost; it was the hope that his brother would come to his senses.

"Don't call me that." Donatello looked up. He was starting to calm down after having figured somewhat out what had happened. "I'm not an emperor. I'm not some twisted scientist who experiments on living things and especially on my own brothers. I'm not a world conqueror and… and…"

"You don't even know what I'm talking about." Don shook his head. The turtle huddling close by him hadn't even indicated he was listening, just shifted his eyes fearfully around. _Why should he, especially when I look exactly like the person he fears._

"We better get you something to eat. I don't want to think about when the last time you had food was." Don stood up from the floor not paying attention to the astonished look he was receiving from the other turtle.

"Tella, where is the exit, I need some food," he addressed the AI.

"I have taken the liberty to have a meal sent to you. It should arrive in approximately five minutes," the computer responded. Don raised an eye-ridge but shrugged his slight surprise off. No doubt his double didn't like to make simple orders all the time and the AI could pick up when he needed something.

In five minutes exactly, a door slid open further inside the room. Inside, pushing a cart, walked a figure clad all in grey and wearing a helmet that covered most of his head. On the back it carried a large rifle.

Donatello noted immediately the three fingered gloves. When it came closer it was obvious that underneath the grey clothing was a shell.

 _Must be one of the soldiers,_ Don thought as the cart was pushed all the way to where he was standing. The mysterious turtle didn't say a word, and even avoided looking directly at him, just like Leo who still lay on the floor.

The soldier stopped the cart and took a bow before quickly, almost as if he had no desire to stay a minute longer in the room, walked towards the exit. Donatello ignored it and removed the large white cloth covering the cart to reveal the food.

"Well Leo, eat up," he said smiling when seeing all the items on the cart. There was hot chicken, various kinds of salad, other dressings and even a cake.

"B-but it's your food," the turtle protested, bewildered that he was offered to eat of his brother's plate.

"And I'm giving it to you," Don smiled; he had to tilt himself slightly to see where Leo was half concealed by the cart. "Would the Donatello you knew give you food?"

"N-no," the turtle shook his head.

"Well I am not your Donatello, I come from…" the ninja halted when remembering the AI. If his double was so stone-hearted to have one of his brothers killed and torture the others, how would he take on intruders?

 _She didn't seem to have noticed my outburst earlier but if she were to know that I'm not really her master, wouldn't she alert the guards? She does seem to have that capability._ He looked down at where Leo still lay, staring back at him utterly confused. _I probably turned his world upside down now; I guess he has never been used to any kind of kindness for some time._

"Eat, I'm not hungry." Don gestured to the cart. When there was no move, even attempt to sniff at the meal, he scooped up the chicken and put it down in front of the turtle. "And tell me, is your name Leonardo?"

"Y-yes." Leo eyed the chicken hungrily. Carefully one hand reached for the meat but stopped just inches away, his eyes gazed back up at the smiling turtle clad in black who nodded. Hunger finally won over and he grabbed the dead bird and began tearing it into his mouth at full speed.

"Tella are you online all the time?" Donatello asked. He wished for a private talk with the turtle in front of him and couldn't risk the AI identifying him as an intruder. This was an innocent question. After all the AI had believed him to be disoriented after the explosion. It was not unbelievable that he might have some temporary memory problems.

"You must still be recovering from the explosion Emperor Donatello," the AI began speaking, confirming that she still thought this was her master speaking. "I am always online as long as the computer equipment in your private laboratory is on. But you can disable my ability to take voice commands by transferring to manual control."

"If I switch you to manual control, you can't hear when I speak?" Don asked casually while picking up a salad bowl and handed to Leo. The other turtle took it eagerly and began shoveling the content into his hungry mouth.

"Affirmative," Tella responded.

"Great, switch to manual control," Donatello ordered.

"Emperor Donatello, I must advise you that voice command can only be restored manually. Now switching to manual control, voice command deactivated."

 _Ah, a little privacy at last._ Don sat down in front of the still eating turtle. He allowed him to finish the meal before addressing him. Leo was enjoying every single bit, smiled much more sincerely and had stopped shivering. Soon he had run out of food, once that was evident his head sunk and he took a deep breath.

"T-thank you…" he still stuttered and was now rubbing his arms nervously.

"All right Leonardo, I have a confession to make and I have to get you to believe me. As you said, your Donatello wouldn't give you food. Well I am not your Donatello," Don began; the double of his brother didn't look up.

"I was about to tell you earlier, I am from another world, another dimension. I think it has something to do with that transpad. It must have malfunctioned causing some short of an abnormal rift and switched me with the Donatello you know and now he is in my world. I don't dare think what kind of havoc he is making there." He stopped to take a breath and see if the other was paying attention. Leonardo made no signs, just kept staring down and rubbing his arms.

"I don't know how I can convince you that I am not lying or manipulating you. I need to get back to my world fast before somebody else finds out who is loyal to this emperor." He eyed the transpad. "And that platform is the key but I will need all the help I can get."

The turtle that looked so much like his brother didn't seem to have taken anything in of what Don said. Leonardo sat upright, with his head hung and injured arms in his lap. Donatello saw that his mouth moved, he was muttering.

"I heard him scream, I heard him scream, I couldn't do anything, I was elected to lead, I was the oldest, you all looked up to me and I couldn't do anything." Don heard once listening closer.

"You heard him scream? Who?" Don asked but Leo didn't look up nor was he the one who answered.

"Your baby brother, Michelangelo," growled a canned mechanical voice. The usually purple-clad turtle felt a large shadow fall on him and slowly turned.

 _What… the… shell?_ He abruptly stood up staring wide eyed at the sight before him. He hadn't even heard any door open nor had he even noticed the approach of this large creature.

It looked like it had once been a turtle. Its plastron was made of metal, the lower parts of the legs were completely robotic but the upper halves were still flesh. Both arms were made of steel. It had some short of metallic shoulder pads red in color. The head was still somewhat fleshy but had flat devices embedded into it, but parts of the face were replaced by more steel. One eye was normal and organic but the other was mechanical and glowed with red light. The back shell looked to be the only thing that had not been tampered with, but Don could only wonder. The cyborg was staring at him, the organic eye just dripped with hate; he could only form with the flesh half of his face a hateful scowl.

"You made a big mistake Donatello, disconnecting Tella's voice command. She monitors me as you should know, making sure that I don't tamper with the mind control device embedded into my skull. You should know it only takes me few seconds to obliterate it." Although the voice didn't sound very natural, Don recognized it and he recognized the face.

"Good gracious, Raphael?!" he shouted startled but automatically backed away when the cyborg took one step closer. The movement revealed that he could move, despite his body, in total silence.

"Yes Donatello, its Raphael. Usually I'm your second in command when you have me under your twisted control. However, I finally have my chance to make you pay for what you have done. I had to watch you tear up our baby brother literally and then watch you torture and humiliate our oldest. I'm going to make you suffer just like you made them suffer." There was acid of hate in his voice.

 _And here I was worrying about being found out not being the correct Donatello._ Don gulped nervously.

* * *

 **2k3 TMNT world**

"So I built this?" The emperor looked around very skeptical. His three 'brothers' looked at him worried; it was bad news if Don couldn't even remember his own inventions.

"Yeah, I had to peste… ah, ask you a couple of time and give you a few hints," Mike said from his seat grinning innocently. The other two had been filled in on Don's 'memory problem'.

"Yeah right," Raph retorted. "He didn't even do it until we had to go after Casey and we needed a real ride."

 _I guess Don of this world is more of an amateur than I thought, Battle-Shell as a name for a truck? Jeez._ He kept looking around in the truck. Leonardo was driving and they were headed for April's antique store. _Wait. Did he say Casey?_

"Casey… as in Casey Jones?" Donatello inquired shooting a glance towards Raphael who nodded grinning.

"Hey, your memory ain't that bad after all. Yeah I, kind of ran into the guy, he was all pissed off and stuff. But we got him to see reason, good friend now," the red-clad turtle explained. Donatello quickly looked away to hide a forming scowl.

 _Casey Jones, of course he has to be here as well._ He started to rub his hands while trying to bring his rising temper back down. _They have two human allies, that's two more than my brothers and I had back in the days._

"All right guys we are here," Leonardo announced as he drove into the alley that would lead to the back door of April's shop. Mikey jumped up and quickly opened the back of the truck and was out. Raph followed soon after.

"Now guys, let's try not to break anything this time," the blue-clad turtle said as he was just about to knock on the door. He was met with blank stares from two of his brothers. _Right, of course, I'm talking to them. What was I thinking?_

"Hurry up and knock already," Raph finally responded.

"Yo Donny, hurry up," Mikey called when he noticed that Donatello had still not come from the back of the van.

"I'm on my way, keep your shell on," Don grunted. Leonardo knocked and after a short wait, the door opened revealing their red haired human friend.

"Hey guys, thanks for coming," she said gesturing to the turtles to enter. Only three did, the fourth stood frozen solid jaw dropped in an astonished gasp.

 _She's even more beautiful than my April._ The emperor gulped closing his mouth when realizing that not only was he staring, it hadn't escaped the woman's attention.

"Something wrong Don?" she asked concerned.

"Aaah, no… nothing wrong, I'm fine." Don took a slow approach towards the door.

"Are you still feeling jaded after the explosion?" Leonardo peeked out. "Maybe you should have stayed at the lair."

"NO!" Donatello quickly protested holding his hands up. "Nonono, I'm fine, just… I'm fine really."

"Explosion?" April asked wide-eyed. Leonardo told her what had happened and of course relayed the information about Don's 'memory'.

"Oh no, you ok Don?" Had she looked concerned earlier it was nothing compared to now. She was quickly at the turtle's side putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Ah I'm fine." Don stared at the hand resting on him. _So soft._

"I was going to ask if you could fix my refrigerator, but maybe I should just allow you to ease off, looks like you deserve it," she said smiling reassuringly.

"No, fix refrigerator, me can do that, yes fix, fix, that's what I do, fix." Donatello still didn't take his eyes off the hand.

"Oookay." The woman looked at Leo who shrugged where he stood in the doorway, not being able to explain his brother's odd behavior.

"He's still recovering, must be." He then decided. April nodded and finally pushed at Don slightly indicating that he should walk in.

Meanwhile inside, Mikey and Raph stood further inside the store waiting for the others. The orange-clad turtle watched how April almost had to shove their purple-wearing brother inside. A slight grin came over him and he looked at Raphael who was lazily fingering one sai.

"Hey Raph," he nudged his brother. "I think Donny has a crush."

"Say what?" Raphael glanced at him. Mikey pointed with a thumb to where Don and April were walking towards the door that led further into the building, up to April's apartment. He noticed how longingly his intelligent brother was staring at the woman.

"Hm, that's new," he grunted scowling. "He should be careful I think Casey has a thing for her too."

"Guys," Leo addressed them, he stood nearby a pile of boxes and was indicating to them. "These need to go to storage."

"Oh great and I forgot my hernia mesh," Mikey joked and was promptly slapped on the head by the turtle in red. "Ow."

"Guys," Leo repeated impatiently tapping one foot and hands on the hip.

Upstairs in the apartment, Donatello was already starting to dismantle the refrigerator. April watched while sitting at the kitchen table, the turtle hadn't yet answered what was wrong with the thing.

 _This is just so odd,_ the emperor thought. _Here she is their friend, ally, she can call them and ask for help and they come running._

"So you think you found what is wrong?" the woman asked, once the turtle was now examining attentively the innards of the applicant.

 _What a soft music her voice is, not scared, sorrowful. Trusting and friendly, I have never heard that._ He glanced back at the woman and allowed himself to smile slightly. "I might need few spare parts. I can fix the wires now, but there are one or two things that need to be replaced."

"There is an old fridge downstairs in the storage room I don't know if it's working or not, but maybe you can salvage parts from it," April suggested. Don smiled even wider.

"Good, that saves me a trip," he said standing up. _The best part is, she looks to be single and since she is human she can walk around outside. I might be able to use her. After all, not all the things I need later can be found in the junkyard. Plus I don't have my loyal soldiers here._

April walked in front of him back to the door exiting the apartment, thus she couldn't see the sinister smile slowly coming on the turtle.

 _Oh, I'm so going to enjoy manipulating her into my arms. She is going to be so much easier than my version of her. After all, this time random turtle soldiers didn't kidnap her off the street._

 **End Chapter 2**

* * *

 **A/N:** Don chasing Raph with a sledgehammer? For those who don't remember or were too young to remember, back during the airing of the 2k3 cartoon, 4kids would sometimes run short animations with the turtles. In one such short, Raph managed to crash one of Don's vehicles, the short ended with Don chasing Raph around the lair holding a sledgehammer.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 02/12 2005

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **Turtotopia**

 _Ok focus, I'm staring at a large cyborg version of my hot heated brother. He's very pissed off because of what my double has done and he can probably crush my shell with one blow. The tricky parts in this situation will be convincing him that I'm not the Donatello he wants to kill and stay alive while convincing him._ Donatello slowly backed away from the cyborg who took another step forward.

"Look, this is going to sound crazy, but I am not the one you think I am," he said while stepping around Leonardo who didn't even move nor did he even look up at advancing Raphael. Just sat and stared at the floor, he was in a world of his own.

"Right, then explain why you look exactly like him." Although canned, the voice was very sarcastic. Raphael continued to approach with the same hateful stare.

 _Ah, forgot that detail._ Don glanced down at his clothes. They did hinder his movements slightly. _If I am going to survive, these have got to go._

"I come from another world, another reality. Your Donatello was messing around with that transporter thing over there." He pointed at the transpad as he passed it. "It switched us. He's in my world now messing around and I have to get back there before he does a permanent damage."

"Ah right, that clears everything up and you just transported into his clothes too I take it?" The cyborg showed no indication that he was going to believe the turtle. Donatello sighed in frustration and began to remove the jacked and the shirt. The whole time he managed to keep a safe distance.

"I'm telling you Raphael, I am not your Donatello. You have got to believe me. Would your Don remove Leonardo from that torture chair he was in and then give him food? Would your Donatello be stupid enough to shut down the AI in this lab, the one who is supposed to make sure you are kept in check?" he said kicking off the boots and somehow managed to remove the pants while still backing away. Finally, the ninja was almost dressed as usual, now missing his pads, mask and belt.

"You are a good actor and you have manipulated us before," Raphael snarled and started to adjust speed. Now he didn't move silently, there was a steamy hiss as the joints in the knees bent and a heavy clank when a foot landed on the floor.

"Can your Donatello do this?" Don saw he would need to back flip to increase the distance between them and did, making sure to do it twice so the distance was even more. He noted the hint of disbelief and wonder in Raphael's organic eye, but it quickly disappeared and it became hateful once more.

"Nice, real nice," he growled and continued going much faster towards the turtle.

"My name may be Donatello, but I'm not Emperor Donatello of Turtotopia or whatever he calls this place. My name is Donatello, I'm a ninja." He quickly jumped to the side as the cyborg came charging. The ninja landed on top of a nearby computer and crouched there ready to dart off again as Raphael managed to stop himself and turn.

"Ninja what?" Raph growled and started to adjust speed again towards Don. The turtle gulped and jumped just before the cyborg came and rammed his fist into the equipment, effectively destroying it.

"Ninja, I have been trained almost my whole life in the art of ninjitsu by my sensei and father, Master Splinter," Don answered as he landed close to the wall that carried the large emblem. His eyes opened wide when Raphael came charging once more and leaped up. The turtle spun in the air landing behind the half-mechanical reptile and dashed off further into the room while his attacker was turning around.

"Your games are not going to work Donatello," Raphael snarled and advanced towards Don once more.

"Listen to me; I only look like your Donatello because I am from another world. Another reality where the Raphael I know is hotheaded and rash and not at all a cyborg." Don jumped over Leonardo who still sat and didn't look like he noticed the fight at all. His head was bowed and legs in cross, his face showed concentration.

"My Leonardo is not on verge of mental breakdown and Michelangelo is alive and annoying as ever," the ninja continued when no response came from the cyborg that had stopped suddenly.

Donatello halted as well. There was some distance between them now, the turtle wondered hopeful that his story had gone through and Raphael was considering that he might be telling the truth.

"Since it doesn't look like you are going to be still for your punishment." The cyborg raised his right arm towards the turtle. Don gasped when the hand sunk into the arm and out came what looked too much like a barrel of a machine gun.

 _Oh she… ah screw that! OH SHIT!_ Donatello made a mad dash for the nearest shelter, a large computer. He barely ducked behind it as the laser like beams just missed him.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you, just maim you a bit to make you suffer," Raphael called.

 _Oh that makes me feel so much better._ Don covered the head with his arms when the beams tore up the wall close by and debris rained over him. _Ow, ow that hurt._

"I'm telling the truth, I'm not your Donatello," he called but only more beams came, sending more debris over him as they landed either on the wall or nearby computers and shattered them. The noise was almost deafening.

"Enough of your lies." The canned voice sounded right above him. Don looked up and swallowed nervously, the cyborg was right above him. He had only been using the gun to make sure he didn't go anywhere and had switched to stealth mode on his legs.

 _Sometimes, I really hate life._ Don jumped to his feet and prepared to defend himself as the cyborg pummeled his non-gun hand towards him.

Don ducked and the blow landed on the wall smashing a hole. He jumped and kicked, landing the foot on the metal plastron. The cyborg didn't even budge.

"YEOUCH!" Don screamed after the kick and tried to jump further back but the cyborg used his gun-hand as a club, landing a hard hit on Don's side. The turtle was thrown up against the wall and sank to the ground. _I have to get distance between us again._

Donatello didn't manage to stand up, a metallic hand grabbed his neck and he was forcefully picked up. Raphael roared as he spun and threw the ninja across the room. Don was still disoriented after the clubbing and was in no shape to regain balance, his carapace made a hard contact with the wall and he fell to the ground just as harshly.

 _Well, that's one way to get the distance needed._ Donatello slowly began to rise. Glancing to the side, he saw Raphael approaching yet again.

"Look, I'm sure if you check the transpad there are bound to be some logs or something that shows something happened. It switched me and him," he said while standing up.

"You don't give up, do you?" Raphael snarled and accelerated his speed. Don grimaced in pain as he stepped on the foot he had used earlier to kick the cyborg. The turtle positioned himself in a defense stance, as Raph was close enough he leaped up aiming to kick his opponent in the head.

Unfortunately, the cyborg either was too fast or had anticipated this for he grabbed the ninja's ankle when it came and forcefully slammed the turtle to the ground.

Don lost all abilities to move, he was on a verge of unconsciousness and could barely feel it when he was picked up roughly by the neck. His vision was beginning to blur so he hardly saw the grim face of the cyborg now staring straight at him.

"No more games, it's time for your sufferings to really begin," he growled. Don could barely blink his eyes, he weakly grabbed the metal hand holding him by the neck but his left fell back and his right just hung on the cold robotic limb.

"Y-you are making… a big mistake Raphael." Donatello's voice was low and very weak. The cyborg sported a sinister grin on the organic half of his face.

"Oh no, I am finally making amends for what I have had to do under your twisted control," he said and raised his free hand. From the knuckles started to emerge what looked like a miniature version of a bone saw.

 _Oh no._ Don started weakly to struggle, the saw approached slowly and cyborg was now smiling sadistically. The ninja closed his eyes as he felt the breeze from the saw and the horrific whirring sound it made as it spun.

"Raphael! Wait!"

 _That was a voice from heaven._ Donatello slowly opened one eye and gulped when seeing how close the saw was to his beak. It had stopped spinning and the cyborg was looking past him now, the smile dropped.

"Leo? Wait why are you… doesn't he drug you up after taking you out of the analyzer?" The surprise was clear in Raphael's canned voice.

"That's why… why I-I told you to wait." Leonardo was standing and unsteadily he began to walk closer. He pointed a shaking finger at Donatello. "H-he d-didn't… he gave me… me his food, not special made with drugs… he also… also didn't know t-that the voice command… for… for Tella could be d-d-d-deactivated."

"Breathe slowly brother, you know you are always disoriented for two hours after spending time in that hellish contraption," the cyborg advised the shaking turtle. Leo nodded franticly but continued towards them. Don saw the concern in Raph's face.

"I-I also saw h-him move… D-d-donatello couldn't m-move… move like that… n-not without a-a-aid of ma-ma-machines." The lighter greener turtle was now right beside them and staring at Donatello who could only hang in Raphael's iron grip.

"I guess," the cyborg grunted.

Don tried to turn his head but a slight squeeze from Raph reminded him that he shouldn't try and move. He felt fingers gingerly touch his temple. Glancing to the side with his eyes he could just make out Leonardo with one arm outstretched up to him touching his head.

"H-he d-d-doesn't… have a…a scar… Donatello… had a scar… here on t-t-the left temple. T-that's where he… inserted the device he uses… to connect with T-Tella," Leo said. The cyborg turned Don at these words so the left temple was exposed to his eyes.

"Leo step back," Raphael ordered and the nervous turtle obeyed. Don was again turned to face the half-mechanical face whose expression was now more thoughtful.

"If you are really telling the truth then I am truly sorry for what I am about to do," the cyborg stated grimly. "But if you weren't, then consider it a start of your torture."

The mini bone saw sunk back into the hand much to Don's relief. However, he didn't notice Leo who turned his head and closed his eyes tight. He did see what looked like a very long needle come out of Raphael's knuckle instead of the saw.

The cyborg didn't go slowly this time, instead he jammed the needle right into Donny's beak. The turtle's eyes flew wide open at the instant pain and he gasped. Suddenly a gnawing sensation came all over his head. It was as if something was crawling inside of it. This was very uncomfortable and Don started to struggle slightly more fiercely. There was a sensation of pinching on the inside, very hard.

Don grimaced in pain and then when the pinching never seemed to be stopping, he finally screamed in agony and before crying.

"Stop! Please! I beg you! STOP!"

* * *

 **2k3 TMNT world**

 _What is going on Donny?_

 _Oh, nothing Mikey, nothing, we are just going to play a little game, you like to play games correct?_

 _Yeah. So what game are we going to play?_

 _That's my little brother, just sit on that bench over there._

 _Okay. What are those arms on it for?_

 _You will see Mikey, you will see. Just relax there…_

 _Where are Leo and Raph? Didn't you safe them too?_

 _Yes I did actually and they are playing this game as well but they have to be hidden for it to work, but they hear us. They hear us all right._

 _Okay._

 _Now I am just going over to this console and we will start the game, just sit tight, you will know when it starts._

 _What were those machines that kidnapped us Donny? Do you know who sent them?_

 _Actually yes Mikey I do._

 _Really?_

 _Yes Mikey, you see, it was I._

"Ah shit." The emperor woke up growling in pain. He sat up in the bed holding one hand over his forehead and his mouth was sneering.

"I knew I forgot something," he snorted and removed the blanket off his body before standing up from the bed. "I wonder if my double has the right chemicals to mix it."

He began to search around the bedroom still winching a bit in pain. Slowly a single tear crawled down.

 _What have I done,_ a voice emerged in his mind while going through his double's stash of chemistry equipment. It was a very meek and quiet one.

 _Shut up, that brat would just have caused trouble,_ a more angry sounding voice snapped.

 _I killed him,_ the more mellow voice said.

 _That happens when you slice somebody up, now shut up,_ the angry one growled. Donatello shook his head trying to quiet the voices; he couldn't find anything so he sneaked out hoping to find something in this world Don's work corner.

 _What kind of a monster have I become?_ He wasn't rid of the voices.

 _Oh stop that whining, we did what we had to do, we couldn't have stayed hidden for long. They would have eventually found us again. We are not going back to that lab,_ the angry voice snarled in his head. _We will make the humans pay for this; they are no longer our masters, now we are._

 _Not in this world,_ the meek voice protested.

 _Oh but we are going to change that._ A third voice emerged. It was closer to the emperor's, it sounded cold and almost calculating.

 _No,_ the mellow voice protested again but sounded more afraid. The angry voice fell silent.

 _Oh yes and like back home, the humans are again going to be our puppets to help towards their own slavery,_ the cold voice chuckled.

 _No, not again._

Donatello stumbled on his way down to the lower level and quickly steadied himself by placing one hand on the wall. He rubbed the right temple slightly grimacing, then he darted a finger at the left one and pressed.

 _Ah that's better,_ the emperor thought smiling as a more pleasurable feeling ran through him. Starting in the head and then going down through his whole body.

He walked to Donatello's workspace and straight where he would most likely store any chemicals, a locked closet. But the lock was a padlock with a number combination.

 _Fuck, the bloody no good…_ he examined the lock but shock his head.

"Somethin' wrong?" a voice interrupted him. Donatello turned only to see Raphael standing there with no mask on. The emperor then noticed that one TV on the monolith was on.

"I can't remember the combination to the closet." Donatello gestured to it shrugging. "I had a bad night; I just wanted tinker around to clear my mind."

 _Well, that sounds like Don._ Raph only nodded, he hadn't admitted it yet but he was starting to feel strangely suspicious about his brother. On top of that was slight worry after seeing the way Donatello stared after April when the turtles were helping her in the store.

"I can pick it for ya," he said drawing up the sai and promptly did exactly that, picked the lock and opened the closet revealing many types of chemicals.

"Thanks." Donatello smirked slightly fighting the temptation to snap when Raphael nodded and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't feel like sleepin' myself, so I'm watching the tube, feel free to join me if ya wish later," he said heading back to the TV.

 _Yeah right, I have better things to do than waste my time watching television._ Don shook his head sneering. Then he turned to the chemicals and after short search he smiled satisfied.

 _Great, he has the right ones for the combination._ He started to gather few of the jars, filled either with liquid or powder. _Incredible luck, but then again many of these things are basic and in almost in any amateur chemistry lab._

* * *

Raphael's mind wasn't really on the television. Balancing his sai on one finger where he sat on the couch, the normally red-wearing turtle glanced occasionally towards Don's workspace.

 _I can't shake it that somethin' is not right._ Raph stopped the balance act and used the tip of the sai to scratch his cheek. _I'm not buyin' it, he wasn't even knocked out unconscious… memory problem my shell._

 _Leo, Mike and Master Splinter seem to believe it tough._ He stopped scratching, looked over the couch and towards were Donatello was hard at work mixing chemicals. His eyes narrowed on his brother when seeing a slight grimace, as if the turtle was in pain.

 _Then again, when comes to injures, I'm more of an expert of giving them._ Raphael frowned in concern and stood up. "Yo Don are you sure you are all right?"

"Yes I'm fine," Donatello snapped in a hoarse voice. Raphael was slightly surprised to hear his mellow brother like this.

 _Oookay, well if he says he is all right, then I guess he is._ Raph shook his head, faced the TV again and sat down.

 _Interfering snoop,_ Donatello fumed in his mind as he put the finishing touches on his formula. A satisfied smile grew on his lips when the liquid in the beaker turned slightly yellowish.

 _This should do for few days, I can ask April get me more ingredients. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that she used to work for a scientist and actually understands science. However, I have to be careful when I begin my plan, so far she only thinks of us as friends and probably for the best it stays like that for now as not to arouse suspicion._ Donatello began to clean up and put the jars back into the closet. His smile turned slightly coy. _But that doesn't mean I can't be an appreciative friend._

 _No, not again, not her._ The mellow voice burst through.

 _SHUT UP,_ the angry voice screamed.

 _You two are really getting on my nerves, time to put both of you back to bed._ Donatello barely managed to keep himself from stumbling. Quickly he grabbed the beaker with the yellow liquid, the turtle breathed heavily. He looked around and found a medical kit. Making sure that Raphael wasn't looking, he snatched from it a needle and a syringe. Then the emperor quickly darted up to the second level and to his room.

 _Don't think, I didn't see that,_ Raphael thought from the couch. He stood up turned off the TV and then jumped to one of the columns that supported the upper levels scaling it up quickly. Once there he walked straight for Donatello's room.

He was too late to have a talk like the sai wielding turtle had every intention too. Donatello had been very quick. The beaker was on the nightstand but the turtle was sleeping in an awkward position on the bed. Still in the emperor's right hand was the syringe and on the left arm was slightly bleeding wound.

 _Donatello, what the shell are you doing to yourself?_ Raphael was visibly shocked to see this; he left the room and headed straight for Leonardo's room. No way was this going to wait until morning. He missed thus Donatello opening his eyes and glancing at the entrance, smiling wickedly.

"Leo we have a bigger problem than Donny's memory problem," Raph announced as the turtle walked into the leader's room.

 **End chapter 3**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 05/12 2005

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **Turtotopia**

Don slumped to the floor once the cyborg released his hold on him. He was on his knees with the face buried to the floor, shivering, crying, his head throbbing in pain and his whole body ached.

Over him stood two turtles, Leonardo shifted his eyes warily between Donatello and Raphael. The cyborg stood perfectly still, his face was distant while processing information. Suddenly the mechanical turtle turned and walked few steps away from them.

"S-so…" Leo stuttered. Raph sighed heavily.

"He was telling the truth," the canned voice whispered the best it could. It held heavy regret. "He's not him."

At hearing that the more nervous turtle crouched down beside Donatello, he gently put his right hand on the injured ninja's carapace. Don didn't look up at the touch, only tried to huddle up into a ball. He almost wished he could withdraw into his shell to hide.

"H-hey… i-it's all right… Raph s-says you a-are telling the truth… y-you are not our D-d-donatello." It was hard for this Leonardo to sound reassuring being in his state. He tried his best, took finally a hold on Don with both hands and gently pulled him closer.

Donatello didn't notice it; his head was hurting so much that he barely could hear his own thoughts. He was carefully cradled in Leonardo's arms who gently rocked him, rubbed the carapace gently and spoke as softly as he could to him trying to calm him down.

"He is just a kid," the cyborg growled from his position. Leonardo looked up wondering what his brother was talking about. Raphael glared back, the regret and shame was visible on the organic half of the face.

"He's a teenager Leonardo. Not only is he not our Donatello, he's many years younger than us. He's fifteen, only three years older than Mikey was when the emperor butchered him!" the upset canned voice shouted. "And here I was, ready to smash him up. Then I subject him to the mind-link-connection. I TORTURED A KID!"

"W-we d-didn't know that… until n-n-now," Leo said uneasily. Raphael turned towards them but didn't come closer. He walked towards the transpad platform; the cyborg went for the computer consol on the wall nearby it but didn't touch it. Instead, he raised his left hand, a small cable shoot out of the knuckles and connected to a node just above the computer.

He connected only for a moment before the cable withdrew back into his hand. Once more the half mechanical turtle stood in heavy silence.

"A-are you a-alright?" Leo looked at Donatello whom he still held in his arms. The turtle had stopped sobbing but painful moans escaped from his lips.

"He'll be out for few more minutes," Raphael responded glancing back towards the two shapes on the floor. "I did… I did an intensive scan on him; he will go near catatonic for a second soon while his brain is recovering fully. He will be fine after that, probably more scared of me than before but otherwise fine."

"W-what were you doing?" his brother asked indicating to the transpad. The cyborg shook his head.

"What I should have done instead of violating the kid's head, I checked the transpad logs. There was indeed transportation; a glitch in the main program caused an abnormal rift to form. The trigger was an explosion caused by faulty wirings and the transpad accidentally transported the emperor in the process. The safety protocols in the program instantly tried to retrieve him back but thanks to the rift, it instead caused a switch. A switch between two worlds, two realities." Raphael turned to face them, the normal half of his mouth was gritting his teeth. "A reality where we are much younger, basically the same age and we weren't accidentally mutated in a lab. We mutated in a sewer, a rat found us and to help us survive he started to teach us martial arts."

"Uh… h-how do you k-know that?" Leo's nervous expression slowly changed to confused. The cyborg gritted his teeth so hard that the metal sound could easily be heard.

"Because I practically ripped the information out of the kid!" he snarled. "I can connect to people's mind thanks to what the emperor did to me. He made me his main interrogator on rebellion members. It also doubles as a torture method. You saw how he reacted. I was basically tearing through his head with connection wires and jamming them into his brain."

"Y-yeah I-I know… I j-just didn't think… didn't think you would get so much." Leo shook his head and bit his lips.

"I hate doing it, it was bad enough that I did it with those poor humans when under the emperor's mind control but now I did it willingly against a kid. A FUCKING KID!" Raph swung around and hammered a metal fist on the wall making a large hole.

"D-did… you just… refer to me… as a kid?" Don was recovering. The headache was slowly fading, though his body still hurt. He was helped to sit by Leonardo.

"You are recovering already? I guess that does make sense, the mutation makes us more resilient," the cyborg said and took a careful step closer.

"F-for us… y-you are… you see… w-w we are over t-ten years older than you," Leo answered Don's question. The ninja slowly turned his head to look at the nervous turtle, an eye-ridge rose.

"How… do you know…age… my age?" he asked and began to massage the back of his neck with the right hand.

"Simple, I downloaded the information out of your brain," Raphael answered looking away when Donatello turned to him.

"Wha..?" the turtle was even more confused.

"What I did too you earlier… I do it to directly connect with people's brain, that way I can get any information I need from them," the cyborg explained. "Unfortunately the pain can't be avoided. I didn't get to approve anything that was planted on me when the emperor changed me into a cyborg."

"I see." Don gulped then grimaced as the body reminded him that he had taken some heavy beating earlier. "I need… need to lie down."

"H-here, l-let me help," Leo then gently helped Don lower to the ground.

"A bed would be nice," the ninja muttered as he lay down on the cold floor.

"It's too much risk to take you to the bedroom, in fact we shouldn't expose you too much to this world. The emperor is hated and there have been several attempts at his life," the cyborg said. "Thankfully people are used to him being seldom seen."

"J-just rest… rest here… maybe I-I can find…something." Leonardo stood up and walked off to search around in the lab.

"I am truly sorry that I didn't believe you and did this to you." The cyborg had come closer where Donatello lay.

"Well… I guess I can't blame you… after all, I am the alternative… version of your Don." Don grinned weakly. "So… you are older than me?"

"It looks like it, much older," Raphael had now arrived all the way to the injured turtle; there was a hint of smile on the organic part of his face. "Leonardo is 32 years old, I'm 31, our Donatello is about 20 this year."

"Woah," Don slowly rose up slightly narrowing his eyes on the mechanical turtle. "There is that much… age gap between you? I think at most there are only few… months between me and my brothers, we don't even really know."

"Yeah I know, I know your life story thanks to what I did. You guys were lucky, very lucky," Raphael really smiled now. "We never had father. At most, it was Leo and I who acted as both brothers and fathers for Don and… Mikey."

"You didn't tell me how old Mikey was…" Don realized. The smile disappeared instantly on the cyborg. Raphael looked down shaking his head sadly.

"He… he was twelve when the emperor killed him," the voice sounded broken despite sounding canned and mechanical.

 _Twelve? Oh god… he really was just a child?_ Don gulped understanding more why the cyborg had only few minutes earlier wanted to torture him.

"H-here I-I f-found blankets." Leo appeared and his arms were full of blankets.

"No, you know what, I think I'll just stand up and sit." Donatello felt better to speak and started to rise. The nervous turtle instantly threw the blankets away and helped him. A nearby chair was found and Don was allowed to sit there.

"All right, now that I'm not on the death list any longer, I think I need to find away to get back to my world. I would hate to have to repair more than just machines when coming back home," he said.

"I can help you fix the transpad and modify it to transport between worlds instead of different areas of the country, but it will probably take few days," Raphael offered before folding his arms staring attentively at the young turtle. "And during those few days, I'm afraid you will be forced to play along as Emperor Donatello."

"Swell," Don muttered, Leonardo who stood beside the chair patted him on the shoulder.

"D-don't worry, w-we'll help you," he said trying to smile reassuringly. Donatello glanced up at him very unsure.

"I won't have to torture anybody do I?"

"Not you personally no," Raphael answered him. "You… I mean the emperor has no scheduled appearance for at least a month, so if we could get you home before that time that would be even better. Everybody is used to have to deal with your goons and well… me instead of the emperor. He normally just stays here in his private lab or well the bedroom."

"Kind of wish I was in my bedroom right now," Donatello muttered scratching his head; he realized both older turtles were staring at him. Looking up he saw that they were uneasy, very uneasy.

"I wasn't talking about sleep when I referred to the bedroom," Raphael said and his brother nodded to confirm it.

"You mean… oh," Don realized quickly what they were talking about, both from their expression and the tone in the cyborg's canned voice. "So you mean I… sorry the emperor has an empress."

"Yes and no I guess," Raphael said unfolding his arms, his face darkened. "A slave would be a more accurate word for it."

 _Great, wasn't he twisted enough already?_ Don shuddered at the thought that his double was forcing somebody to have sexual intercourse.

"Right, I hope I don't have to do anything?" he then asked almost fearing that the answer was yes.

"Actually it might be a good idea to fill her in on this switch. April has a good technological knowledge, she could aid us with the transpad," the cyborg answered. Don almost jerked up when hearing the name.

"April? Wait, please don't tell me her last name is O'Neil," he froze when Raphael hesitated before covering his face with one metallic palm as if the cyborg had realized he had spoken a bit too much.

"I rip out your whole life story and I completely forget that you know her double in your world," he grunted shaking his head.

"H-how long… has she been…?" Don lost his voice in shock and surprise.

"A year, he had her kidnapped from the streets. He had seen her once when driving through the capital city and sent soldiers to grab her and bring her to the palace," the cyborg explained. Donatello sunk his head and grabbed it with both hands.

"I think I need to lie down again," he whispered.

* * *

 **2k3 TMNT World**

"I'm tellin' ya Leo it was there." Raph was on the edge but it didn't seem to go through with the blue-masked turtle.

"Raph, when I came into his bedroom, he was lying normally in his bed and I couldn't find any beaker or a syringe." Leo shook his head; they had been going through this for an half an hour now.

"Leo, I'm not kidding here. He was down in his workspace last night; mixed something I have no idea what and then ran up to his room with a beaker and a syringe. Then I saw the aftermath of him injecting whatever it was into his body," Raphael was really tired to have to repeat himself for the third time.

"Well we are just going to have to talk with him when he wakes up. But honestly Raph, there was nothing out of the ordinary in there," Leonardo stated, his red-wearing brother threw up his hands in frustration.

"Is there a problem?" They both turned to see Donatello come walking down from the second level. Raphael immediately walked towards him pointing at him threateningly.

"What the hell were ya doin' last night," he snapped. The emperor raised an eye ridge then glanced at Leo who shrugged.

"Um, sleeping?" he simply answered. Raph's face fell; he had not expected that for an answer.

"The hell you were. I saw you make you something to inject yourself with. What was it?" the hot heated turtle growled but was only rewarded with a confused stare from the other turtle.

"I'm sorry Raphael but I have no idea what you are going on about. Why would I inject myself with anything? I'm having memory problems not the plague," Donatello chuckled.

Raph's mouth opened and then closed and opened again in utter surprise and confusion. Donatello was actually lying; the sai wielding ninja looked at Leonardo who had his arms folded staring at him with a shake of a head.

 _And he's buying it?_ Raph couldn't believe this. He glared at who he thought was his brother. "I saw you last night, even talked to you and I picked that bloody padlock you use on that closet."

"Really now. Why would you be messing around in my property?" Donatello frowned and placed hands on the hips.

"I… wha… Leo." Raph desperately sought aid but the blue-masked turtle showed no support.

"Raphael, why would Donatello lie?" he asked. At that Raphael exploded.

"Why would he lie? Why would I LIE?!" he roared.

"Well your stories don't match and there are no evidences to support your story Raph," Leonardo said, he eyed Donatello who simply shrugged indicating he had no idea what his 'brother' was on about. Raphael stared at both of them breathing heavily after shouting.

"I can't believe this, this isn't happening," Raph muttered under his breath. Leonardo turned away shaking his head wondering what was going on with his red-wearing brother this morning.

Raphael scowled and made a final glance at Donatello. His eyes almost bulged out; the emperor was smirking at him with a knowing look on his face. The turtle winked one eye and turned away.

Raph growled and attacked, he forcefully slammed Donatello to the floor and pinned him down there.

"I don't know what the hell you are doing but I intend to find out!" he snarled.

"You are making this too easy for me," Don whispered so only the other turtle could hear him.

"Raphael!" Leonardo came running and forcefully jerked his hotheaded brother off the other one. "What the shell is the matter with you?"

"He…" Raphael pointed downwards but again his face fell. Glaring at Donatello, he was shocked to see the startled and confused expression on the turtle; it hadn't been there a second ago.

"I-I, he just attacked me," Donatello's voice sounded frightened.

"What is going on here," the old voice of their sensei demanded. The old rat came walking from his chamber.

"Raphael attacked me," Donatello accused, sounding slightly angry now but still wary. He didn't move from his position on the floor.

"And he claims Donatello was taking something last night with a syringe," Leonardo said and let go of Raphael who was almost too shocked to be angry.

"Raphael, Donatello?" Splinter addressed them. Don rose slowly to his feet avoiding the glare he was now receiving from Raph.

"I was sleeping last night Master," Donatello said plain and simply. No hesitation or any movement that might indicate insincerity. The rat looked at Raphael who was seething in anger now.

"I saw, what I saw!" he snarled before storming off towards the elevator that led up to the warehouse.

"Raphael, I have not dismissed you," Splinter called but his hot-tempered son ignored it and disappeared up. The rat sighed wearily shaking his head.

"Someone go wake Michelangelo up and then report to morning practice. Donatello, are you well enough to join us?" Their sensei turned towards whom he thought was his student and son.

"Actually I am still feeling slightly off, I just came down to have something to drink," the emperor answered. "I'll probably be better in the evening."

"Very well," Splinter nodded and Donatello disappeared into the kitchen. The rat turned towards Leonardo.

"What are your thoughts on this my son?" he asked. The blue-clad turtle scratched the back of his head unsure.

"I don't know Sensei, neither Raph nor Don has a habit of lying, but one of them is not telling the truth, their stories are very different," Leo answered.

"Indeed, we will only do a light practice today since two of your brothers seem to be out. When Raphael returns home I am going to confront this problem," the rat said and started to walk towards the training area in the middle of the lair. "Now go and wake your brother."

Inside the kitchen, Emperor Donatello was deep in thought. Slowly he drank the water from his glass while glancing towards the entrance.

 _Hm, that rat is going to be a problem soon. He will quickly find out that I have no talent whatsoever in that karate or whatever they are doing. Fooling that ill-tempered buffoon was easy but I doubt the rat will be._ He put the glass away and folded his arms. _I don't think I'll dispose of him though. Who knows what possible experiments a mutated rat will offer? Maybe put him in a deep sleep? I can easily cook something up; this world's Donatello is adequately stocked._

He smirked once he thought about the events earlier, a slight chuckle escaped from his lips.

 _I can't believe how easy he made that for me, he was so not expecting any of this. He didn't honestly think I would be that quick to inject myself last night? Of course I realized he would see me and go after me, that idiot._ Donatello began to walk towards the kitchen entrance.

 _Yet he is still dangerous, I seem to have Mikey and Leo fooled and so far the rat doesn't question me. I will soon need something, a leverage, to tell him to stay on my good side._ he began his ascend to the second level. On his way he met Leonardo and a bit groggy Mike.

"Aw man, it's so early," the orange clad turtle complained. "Oh hey Donny."

"Hello Mikey," Donatello greeted automatically, still a bit distant in his thoughts.

"So where is Raph?" Mikey asked Leo.

 _I need something that would stop him short. He is very easily angered so it has to be something that he cares enough about to ensure its safety._ Donatello turned his head slightly to look back where Mike and Leo were now down on the lower level.

 _Hm, Mikey or Leo. Either of them will do but which? Mikey perhaps… yeah I think he will do as leverage against Raph, now just how do I use him as leverage,_ he thought as the turtle approached the entrance to his room. Then an idea hit him and a nasty grin crawled over his mouth.

 _Then he got an idea! An awful idea! Donatello got a wonderful, awful idea!_ He chuckled for the third time this day and entered his room.

 **End chapter 4**

* * *

 **A/N:** And yes apparently Emperor Donatello likes Dr. Seuss. That's a paraphrased line from the Grinch.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 09/12 2005

* * *

 **Chapter 5** **  
**

 **2k3** **TMNT world**

Mike chomped down the popcorn from his hand while watching the TVs very attentively. It was later the evening, Donatello had actually showed up for the practice earlier but Splinter only had him do some light exercises. He had managed to do them, although not with relative ease and much like he had never done them before.

The orange clad turtle had brushed it off; his brother was probably still recovering from yesterday's explosion. Leonardo had decided to go off and search for Raphael who still hadn't returned home. Their brother had stormed out during daytime and he wanted to make sure that Raph was all right. Suddenly Donatello sat down right beside him and interrupted him in watching of a classic horror movie.

 _Don joining me at the TV? That's odd._ Mikey glanced at his brother who wasn't staring at the TV. He was staring at him with a wide smile. _Oookay, that's creepy._

"Hello Mikey." There was this strange tone in his voice Mike couldn't figure out.

"Hey Don," Mike greeted back and offered the popcorn bowl. Donatello accepted, burying his hand in the snack to take a handful, using the free hand he began eating one kernel at a time still gazing at his 'brother'.

"You wouldn't mind doing me a favor, right?" the emperor asked casually while still eating one corn at a time. Mikey had turned his head back to the movie.

"Sure bro, what do you need?" the turtle glanced back at him and saw the other one drawing up a device that looked like had once been a shell-cell. "Dude, what did you do too the cell?"

"I did some modifications," Donatello said shrugging and handed Mike the cell. "Try calling with it.

"Sure, hmm who to call." Mike hovered over the buttons. The emperor rubbed his right temple sighing silently knowing he had to be patient, this couldn't be rushed.

"I know, I'll see if Leo has found Raph." Mike dialed the right number and placed the cell firmly at his ear. A stinging sensation in his head made him jerk the device away. "OW"

"What? What happened?" Donatello put up a very shocked expression. Mikey was rubbing the spot where the cell had been on his head.

"I don't know, felt like something pricked me." He gave the device back to the 'bewildered' purple-wearing turtle.

"What? It isn't supposed to do that." The emperor began to examine the shell-cell trying to find anything that could cause this. "I'm so sorry Mikey, if I knew it would harm you I wouldn't have had you use it."

"Hey no problem bro, it was just a slight sting." The orange clad ninja grinned. "So what exactly was it supposed to do?"

"Just a better and clearer signal, nothing more." Donatello shook his head in disbelief and put the device back on his belt. "Well, maybe there is a wire loose that caused some electricity to hit you. I'll take a look at it, what are you watching?"

"IT came out of outer SPACE!" Mikey said dramatically, the other turtle raised an eye ridge unimpressed.

"Right, I think I'll go and check out the cell." Donatello rose up from the couch and walked off. Mikey's attention was once more on the movie and he completely failed to see the sadistic grin on the emperor as he returned to Don's work corner.

* * *

Leo sighed as he put the shell-cell back on his belt. Raph still wasn't answering and the blue-clad turtle had gone to almost every single place he could think off. Neither Casey nor April had seen his ill-tempered brother.

The sun was long gone behind the horizon, thus it was darker and Leo could move a bit faster as there were more shadows for him to hide in on the rooftops. He was about to give up and simply head back home when finally he spotted a sai wielding turtle sitting alone on a rooftop, staring over the city. Leonardo immediately turned to that particular building. Since he wasn't trying to sneak up on Raph, the red-clad ninja knew about him the moment Leo landed on the roof.

"What do ya want?" growled the angry turtle. "I was not lying, I saw what I saw."

"Relax Raphael, I'm not here to dispute your words," his brother said calmly and walked closer. "To tell you the truth I have been wondering about this myself. Donatello has been acting strangely ever since that explosion."

"Huh, you think?" Raph snorted never turning to look at the other ninja who had stopped just a foot or two away from him. "So when did you get suspicious?"

"During evening practice, Splinter had Donatello do simple practice move all of us perfected when we were nine, he did them like he had never done them before," Leo said. "I didn't confront him though. Not just yet as I am still willing to consider that he might be recovering from what ever happened in his room. He still hasn't told us anything about that."

"He didn't look that hurt," Raphael mentioned. "And there was little or no damage in his room."

"He could have banged his head hard, we don't know. But I do share your doubts, I think he has been lying." Leo's words made Raphael turn around raising his brow in surprise.

"What, what do you mean?" he asked. Leo folded his arms, frowning while he pondered how to put his thoughts into words.

"I'm not totally sure Raphael, but I am having a hard time believing he has any memory problems. Mikey overheard him almost calling somebody… 'a bloody-do-gooder', in a voice that wasn't even like Donatello's and selective memory loss? He remembers his brothers but not his father, his weapon of choice or his skills as a ninja?" he shook his head. "But I don't know, maybe we should confront him about this."

"I say we do," Raph growled while standing up. Leonardo sighed and then nodded in agreement. As he rose up the blue-masked turtle thought he spotted something on another roof.

 _Huh?_ The turtle peered forward.

"What's wrong?" his brother eyed Leonardo before looking in the same direction.

"Nothing… I thought I saw something," the sword-turtle shrugged.

"You think it's the Foot?" Raph frowned heavily. "Would be just typical for them to show up in the current mess."

"No, besides the Foot has been quiet ever since we defeated their master. Ah it was probably just a cat or something." Leo shook his head and turned away. Just at that moment his shell-cell chimed in.

"Leo here," he said as soon as he operated the phone, the frantic voice of their orange-wearing brother almost pierced his ears.

"LEO! You gotta come home quickly! Something is wrong with Master Splinter."

"Mikey? What do you mean something is wrong?" Leonardo asked concerned.

"I don't know! He won't wake up, Don is trying all he can but he won't wake up!" Mikey was clearly in a hurry. Leo just knew the turtle was jumping up and down, but not in excitement.

"Raph and I are on our way," he whispered worried and hung up. Raph, who had heard everything, didn't waste any moment for Leo to repeat the conversation and darted off heading home. His blue-clad brother followed without a word.

They were quick to arrive at the lair and were hardly inside when Mikey came flying almost literally, his usual happy expression completely vanished with a terrified frown.

"Guys come quickly, over here," he cried grabbing Leo's hands and pulling him towards Splinter's chamber.

Inside their aged sensei lay motionless on his bed, kneeling beside him was the emperor and seemed worried. The three other turtles didn't realize unfortunately it was all a ruse.

"Donatello?" Leo stepped closer his voice hardly audible.

"I don't know, I don't know… he just… I don't know." Donatello continued to examine Splinter like he was trying to find out if something was wrong. "He just fell, didn't wake up. He's alive, he just won't wake up."

"What happened?" Raphael pushed forward, when seeing the emperor a moment of anger passed, he didn't want him so close but another part of him knew this was the only turtle that could help. Donatello looked up, he looked bewildered, confused.

"He wanted to talk with me, before you came. He told me to bring in tea so I did. He poured into the cups for us, we drank it and he was about to speak when he just keeled over and lost consciousness," he explained. Raphael spotted the small tray with two small cups and the teakettle.

"Is there something in the tea?" he asked, there was accusation in his voice and it didn't miss the evil overlord.

 _Yes Raphael, continue to make this so easy for me,_ he thought but manage to keep from grinning. Instead, his worried frown changed into a scowl. "Are you accusing me of something here Raph?"

"I was just asking," Raph's voice was cold and he narrowed his eyes on the kneeling turtle.

"Well for your information if there was ANYthing in that tea, then I would be unconscious too. I drank from the same kettle!" Donatello rose to his feet; his hands were clenched into fists. "First you accuse me of taking drugs, yes I heard you very well this morning and now you are suggesting that I drugged our father?"

"I saw you last night," Raphael growled under his breath.

"Will you two stop that?" Mikey shouted angrily. "Master Splinter needs help, stop that stupid bickering!"

"Michelangelo is right, Donatello try find out what is happening. Raphael, please step outside we don't need this right now," Leo stepped forward, he was about to take Raph's arm intending to pull him out but the hot tempered turtle jerked it away and stormed out.

"I'll need equipment to take blood sample," Donatello muttered and left the room, heading for his own. Leonardo and Mike walked to their sensei's bedside. The old rat looked only to be in a peaceful slumber.

"Mikey, you remember what happened?" Leonardo knelt down beside the bed and gently grabbed one hand of their beloved master. He could hear that his brother was suppressing sobs where he stood just behind his brother.

"I was just watching TV. Master Splinter called for Donny, told him he wished to speak with him alone, before you would return with Raph. He told Don to get tea from the kitchen, Don did that and he took the tray here. Next thing I know is I hear a loud gasp and then Donny comes running out shouting that something is wrong," Mike told. Leo nodded, the story matched with what Don said although he still did wonder.

"Mike, did you see Don do anything with the tray except carrying it in here?" Leonardo took a deep breath and glanced to the orange-clad turtle.

"W-what? What do you mean?" Mikey asked surprised and confused. "No, he just took it from the kitchen and carried it to Splinter's room."

Mikey almost looked offended now. "You are not accusing him like Raph is?"

"Mike, I…" Leo fell silent and turned back to the bed. At that moment Donatello came running with the equipment necessary to take a blood sample.

* * *

 **Turtotopia**

The hall Cyborg Raphael was walking through was long and well lit. Only an occasional guard, clad like the one who had brought Donatello the food to the lab, was seen standing in it, otherwise it was empty.

The soldiers all straightened up when the mechanical turtle walked past them but he barely acknowledged them. Knowing very well that his mind controlled self only spoke directly with the emperor; others had to endure his glowering silence.

 _How I hated that, see them squirming, knowing that I could crush them with one hand alone._ He hastened his pace as his robotic feet allowed. It took energy to move at speed and he already had spent big chunk of it when trying to maim the turtle he had thought was his crazy evil brother.

The mechanical turtle reached his destination that was large double doors. He looked around and saw the two guards standing close by. He simply narrowed his eyes on them, the uniformed turtles instantly realized that they were being dismissed and ran off.

Raphael considered knocking but knew that would be uncharacteristic for the person the guards thought he was. Therefore, just in case anybody was watching from the distance he simply opened the doors and strode in.

"Hello," a meek voice greeted him while he was closing the doors.

"Hello April," Raphael answered and turned towards the large bed that was in the far end of the wide bedroom. On it sat red haired woman dressed in a white dress with golden lines on the edges. She looked up a bit startled to hear the cyborg talk.

"Wait, you talked?" she asked, eyes wide opened.

Raphael took a moment to glance around before answering. His brother's bedroom was strangely enough sparsely furnished; there was the bed, a desk and a large closet. Nothing hung on the white walls and purple drapes covered the large windows. The lights on the ceiling illuminated the whole room.

 _Well, he was never much for unnecessary things anyway._ The cyborg looked at the woman who waited for him to say something. He noticed how drawn her face was and how empty of life the eyes. This was somebody who had given up all hopes and just took everything handed to her.

April was not tied or anything, she could move freely around. However, Raphael knew she couldn't go outside of the room without armed escort, both for her safety and to make sure she didn't try anything.

"April O'Neil, the emperor wishes to see you in his private laboratory," Raphael announced ignoring the woman's question earlier. At hearing that the woman's head dropped but she didn't say anything while standing up and walking towards the cyborg. Clearly used to this kind of routine.

He reopened the doors, wondering why he had closed them in the first place, allowing the woman to walk out first. That way he could maintain a bluff that he wanted to keep an eye on her. In reality, Raphael wanted to help her escape the hell she was living in.

Two guards appeared immediately, intending to escort the woman, but backed right away when the mechanical turtle glared at them. They were allowed to walk off in peace.

"I-I haven't been in the lab… not since he put the chip in." April glanced back at the cyborg. She held her arms around herself; Raphael could sense it that she was afraid, but he had to keep up the act until in the private laboratory, it was soundproof and the only place not under surveillance. That was the only reason he could go ballistic there without any guards coming in to stop him.

Raphael didn't answer; he only occasionally glanced at the walls of the hallway. Like the bedroom, there wasn't anything on the walls safe for the purple emblem. No portraits of the emperor or anything similar and in the hallway, only guards.

 _Yeah, the emperor worships more his intelligence than looks,_ the cyborg thought.

Finally they arrived in the lab; Raphael closed the door and noticed that Donatello was nowhere to be seen. April took a step further inside and suddenly a green head popped up from behind some of the computer equipment.

Leonardo stood up and sported an annoyed frown; there were only slight signs of his regular nervous behavior.

"Ssh, h-he's sleeping," he whispered walking closer to them with one finger on his mouth to indicate silence was not a request, it was ordered.

 _Oh great._ Raphael spotted immediately the defensive tone in his brother's voice. _He has adopted him. Great, terrific, we are going to have to pry him off when we get that transpad working._

"Why did you bring her here?" Leo asked looking at the woman who was surprised to see the turtle; she had never seen him before.

"Leo, I told you, we are going to fill her in on what has been going on. This is the only place safe to do it," Raph said as calmly as his canned voice allowed. Leonardo glared that the human and then walked back to the spot where he had been concealed.

"W-what is going on?" April asked very confused.

"What if I told you that the emperor accidentally transported himself to another world, another reality, where he switched places with a younger version of himself who is actually a nice person?" Raph decided not to beat around the bush and went straight to the point. The woman turned to face him; probably many years ago, she would have laughed and found the idea incredibly stupid, but laughter had been killed in her long time ago. Few years ago, she didn't even know that there existed mutant turtles.

"You mean the emperor is not here and he never wanted to see me?" She wasn't sure what to think when the cyborg nodded.

"I had to keep up the act until we came here, like I said to my brother, this is the only place safe to talk freely," Raphael explained.

"Why don't you two just shout." Leo appeared again clearly annoyed, no nervous stutters.

"Leo, we are not talking too loudly." Raphael sighed. "He won't wake up, don't worry."

"Who?" April asked, carefully glancing towards where Leo was crouching again behind the computers.

"The emperor's counterpart. His name is Donatello too but he is younger, much younger, about fifteen years old," Raphael said and began to walk towards where his brother was hiding and no doubt Don was sleeping there as well.

 _'You always like him better than me'._ Leonardo sat with his back shell rested at the computer and watched the teenage turtle sleeping on blankets nearby, but his mind was far away.

* * *

 _'You never punish him if he goes into my stuff', the angry young turtle shouted. In front of him was a bit taller and older turtle._

 _'That is not true Donatello and you know that,' Leonardo said sternly, hands were on the hips. 'But you know Mikey is just so young, he is still learning.'_

 _'And you are always smothering him, babying him, he gets away with anything,' Donatello's voice was getting hoarse but his mouth snapped shut when Leonardo's frown changed into a scowl._

 _'Donatello, if you wake Mikey up again I am going to forget you are thirteen years old and spank you,' Raphael warned as he appeared out of the tunnel that led to the bedrooms._

 _Donatello didn't answer, fuming he just stared at the other older turtle._

 _'Go to your room, go to sleep, you are tired it's been a long day,' Leonardo said and his scowl disappeared._

 _'I'm not tired,' Donatello protested._

 _'Go to your room,' Leonardo snapped and pointed at the tunnel._

 _'I hate you,' Donatello muttered under his breath before stalking towards his bedroom. Raphael stepped out of his way, he noticed the shocked expression on the oldest turtle._

 _'He's been getting worse, his temper is really getting a hold of him,' he said, but Leonardo didn't answer. Silently he just walked to the kitchen._

* * *

Leonardo snapped out of his memories when the cyborg stood beside him. He looked up at the mechanical turtle who was staring at the sleeping form close by.

"He is not our Donatello Leo, he has his own family, his own brothers," Raphael said.

"Yes, I know," Leonardo whispered. A single tear was crawling down from the corner of his eye. "Our Donatello hates me."

 **End chapter 5**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 11/12 2005

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

 **2k3 TMNT world**

"Anything?" Leo appeared behind the emperor who was leaning over his workbench, furiously working out what had happened to Splinter.

"Nothing," Donatello grunted glancing back at him. "I can't find anything out of the ordinary in his blood."

"Have you ever heard of anything like this before?" the blue-masked turtle asked, but the one in purple shook his head. Leonardo spotted the slight frustration in him and mistakenly thought it was for a certain reason.

"I'm sorry about Raph, he shouldn't have accused you like that," he said placing his hand reassuringly on the emperor's shoulder. Donatello rather violently shrugged it off and turned back to his work.

 _You are hiding something, I can feel it, but now is not the right time. First we have to find out what happened to Splinter._ Leonardo watched who he thought was his brother for a moment before turning away, he noticed that Donatello was slightly shaking and sighed. A talk with Raphael was in order.

 _These idiots are almost taking the fun out of this. This is just so easy._ The emperor was not shaking because he was upset. He was desperately trying to hold down his laughter. He continued to pretend working on the sample of Splinter's blood while glancing casually back to have a view over the lair. He could see were Mikey sat rubbing his temple grimaced in pain.

 _Good, the formula is preparing his body for injection, now I just need to finish the chip._ Donatello then made a show, standing abruptly from the chair and let a loud frustrated sigh slip before storming up the stairs leading to the second level.

Mikey ignored his own pain and immediately went after him, Leo and Raph stayed behind only because one was talking to the other.

"You were a bit out of line there earlier," the basic-green turtle said sternly to Raphael who narrowed his eyes. "Look I share your doubts but your behavior was uncalled for. You saw he was trying to help and Mikey confirmed that there was nothing done with the tea."

"I still think something is up," Raphael growled then pointed upwards in the direction of Don's room. "I think we know our brother less than we previously thought."

"I realize that but right now our own father needs us, we need to stay focused. Donatello is the only one of us capable of doing anything for his present state. When Splinter is awake, we can confront him about this, but right now we must help him." Leo waited for an answer back but Raph simply muttered something under his breath and swiftly turned his attention back to the punching bag.

* * *

"You ok Don?" Mikey asked. His voice was in a whisper as his head hurt; he had one hand on his temple.

"Yeah I'm ok," the emperor muttered, he was working on something at his desk but the orange clad turtle couldn't see what it was, natural curiosity pushed him into the room to investigate.

"I don't know what is going on with Raph, he never been like that before," Mike said. Donatello didn't look up to answer.

"Your head bothering you?" the emperor simply asked while using a very small screwdriver to fasten the tiny object he was making. Mikey stopped rubbing his temple.

"Yeah, I just suddenly got this throbbing headache," he complained.

"I'll be just a minute, sit somewhere and take the mask off," Donatello ordered. The orange-wearing ninja looked around and then just decided that his brother's bed was just as good seat as any. He then took his mask off.

"There." the emperor finally turned the seat to face Mike after exactly a minute. "Have you tried taking anything for this?"

"Yeah, but it didn't work," Mike sighed. "This is killing me, it hurts so badly."

 _It should._ Donatello hid a smirk under a worried look and moved closer. Carefully he began examining Mike's head. _Good, the slight swelling where the modified cell injected the formula into him indicates that his body will be ready by tomorrow._

"Did you hit your head at some time? There is a slight bump here on the temple… wait this is where you put the faulty shell-cell at your head." The emperor faked a shocked gasp. "I'm not doing anything right today, am I?"

"Hey, hey bro, it's all right." Mike grabbed his shoulders; he managed to produce his usual infamous grin. "It doesn't even hurt all that much."

 _Man you are terrible liar,_ Donatello hid his grin. He only nodded still looking upset before standing up. "I-I need to go out."

He swiftly left the room, Mikey followed but even if he wasn't ninja trained the emperor walked fast and was half the way down to the lower level. He ignored Raphael who did so as well while torturing the training dummy and headed straight for the elevator.

"Donatello?" Leo stopped in his training but was ignored as well, he was about to go after him but was stopped by a voice from the second level.

"Leave him alone, this hasn't been his day and he needs a time for himself." The orange-clad turtle was crouching on the ledge on the upper level staring at the elevator. Leonardo looked up, slightly surprised to see him behave so protectively but knew he was right. However, if Donatello wasn't back home in an hour, he was going after him.

Raphael stopped for a moment pummeling the dummy and glanced at Leo who had began his kata again. Then he looked up where Mikey still sat but was now rubbing both right and left temple and his face wrinkled in pain.

"Mikey?" he called concerned. "Mikey, you all right?"

"Yeah… I'm fine," the turtle answered.

"Yeah right and I can see that you are very happy," Raph remarked. Leonardo once again stopped his workout to glance back where Mikey was.

"Mikey you look like hell, maybe you should go lie down," the blue clad turtle commented. Mike nodded slightly and stood up.

"Want us to bring ya an aspirin or something?" Raphael shouted after him but their ill brother didn't answer as he disappeared into his room.

"Great. First Donatello, then Master Splinter and now Mikey, what the shell is going on here," the red clad ninja hit the dummy forcefully.

"I don't know Raph," Leo shook his head and for the second time restarted his training session.

* * *

April jumped when she heard the knock; she had fallen asleep on the couch while watching TV. The woman stood up and walked to the door wondering who could be coming so late. Opening it, she stood face to face with Donatello.

"Donny? Something wrong?" April was alarmed to see the extremely sad face on the turtle. The purple mask tails almost made it look like he had ears flopping down in distress.

Donatello just walked in without a word and stopped just as he was inside. The woman closed the door and walked to the turtle repeating her question.

"Ever had days when just everything, no matter what you do, just goes wrong" the emperor whispered. April put her hands gently on his shoulder smiling slightly.

"That happens to everybody, what happened?" she asked.

"Splinter, something happened, he just lost consciousness. He's not dead just asleep but I can't find anything wrong, if anything he should be awake," Donatello sniffled. "And Mikey hurt himself on a cell I was modifying, I asked him to test it and he hurt himself and now he is in pain. And Raph, he's been accusing me of things, horrible things."

"There, there it's all right,. April drew the turtle closer in a friendly hug. "Want me to give you something to drink?"

 _She's even easier than the bunch down in the sewer,_ Donatello thought but out loud he said in a hoarse whisper. "Yes please."

April released him from the embrace and gestured him to sit in the chair in the living room. She then entered the kitchen; the emperor got seated with sly smirk.

 _Must go easy and carefully on this, but like I suspected, put up a good puppy face and she is melted into goo._ He fought the urge to chuckle and put back on the sad dejected face when April returned with hot chocolate in a mug.

* * *

 **Turtotopia**

Donatello woke up slowly wondering if this had all been a very bad dream and he was just waking up in his own bed. Then a sharp pain in his foot reminded him that it had been used to kick a metal plastron, a slight headache told him that having been brain scanned by a cyborg was also not a dream.

He carefully rose slowly and looked to his side, spotted the double of his brother sleeping up against a computer. Don regarded this much older turtle and realized now that he indeed had much older look over him.

The shell was slightly bigger than Leo's as well as there was more mature growth in his features, especially the face. The plastron also looked thicker. Yet only yesterday, this mutant had been covering in fear in front of him. This Leo was even a lighter sleeper than his, Donatello hardly shifted while trying to stand up when the other turtle was suddenly at his side and helping him rise.

"You all right?" Donatello was surprised to hear his voice suddenly steady and calm, Leonardo was now examining the spot where Raphael had jammed the needle into his beak.

"Wish he hadn't had to do that," he heard him mutter; there was anger in his voice.

 _Okay._ Don wasn't sure what to think about this sudden change in attitude. Leonardo finished with the beak and then crouched down asking Don to lift the slightly hurt foot.

"Tell me if this hurts," he said squeezing the ankle slightly.

"A bit, but not much," Donatello said winching slightly at the pain. He noticed the cyborg approach now, the organic half showed indifference.

"I'm going to find something wrap the ankle with," Leo stood up and walked off. "I know he had a medical kit here."

"Wasn't he a nervous wreck when I went to sleep yesterday night?" Donatello was still not getting over this change in the older turtle.

"Yesterday he was still recovering from the thought process analyzer; it makes him nervous and more sensitive to his environment. The emperor drugs him usually after each session with a drug that keeps him in that state to torture him, but once the drugs wears off and he is back in the cell Leonardo is back to his old self. The emperor thinks he has broken him but that is because Leo isn't that bad actor himself," Raphael explained. Don looked at him confused, the cyborg sighed.

"Leonardo blames himself for how our Donatello snapped; he believes he is making it up to the emperor by allowing himself to be treated this way. He thinks he deserves this, the torture." Raphael shook his head. "And he still lingers in the hope that the emperor can be saved."

"What exactly does that thought process analyzer do?" Don asked, the name sounded so harmless.

"It forces your brain to relive certain events, and analyses the process of your thoughts. You can ask Leo, it hurts as hell. I have seen him scream in pain when the emperor increases power to the analyzer." the cyborg fell silent as Leonardo was coming back with a black box decorated with the purple emblem.

"Found it," he said simply and opened it. He grabbed a bandage and kneeling down began to wrap Don's ankle.

"So what's next, fixing the transpad and get me the hell out of here?" Donatello glanced where the platform was and froze when he saw the woman working on the console near it.

"April is still going over the logs, I am still convincing her that you are not her tormentor." Raphael looked into the same direction briefly before looking at the ninja again. The younger turtle nodded slightly uneasy and turned back to the other two. Leonardo finished the bandage job and stood up.

"Tella talked about a glitch maybe we can… say what about Tella?" Don remembered suddenly the AI, Raphael looked slightly embarrassed.

"Remember our brawl yesterday?" the mechanical turtle asked, the younger reptile frowned nodding. "Remember the computer I crushed, you had jumped on top of it?"

"Yeah?"

"That was Tella's main grid, effectively her brain. She's dead so to speak." the cyborg then did the best shrug his body could do. "Ehm, oops?"

"Yeah, oops," Don sighed in frustration, the AI could have been vital source of information and Raphael apparently had thought of that as well. "Now you remind me of my Raphael, he's always breaking something with his temper."

"I guess there are going to be some similarities," Raph said still embarrassed.

"Your temper isn't that bad, but you do go on your impulses sometimes," Leonardo shot in but he wasn't smiling. "Thank god for that sometimes."

"Huh?" Don turned and saw Leo bow his head with a shameful face then turned away and walked off.

"Oh nothing…" Raphael halted when Leo stopped and stared hatefully at his hands. He then promptly began to beat them against a computer terminal. "Leo!"

The cyborg stalked to his brother, stopped him by grabbing the wrists of his hands and pulled him away from the computer. Once more the mechanical turtle proved the strength in his hands, the other turtle struggled but the arms of Raphael didn't even move.

"Stop doing that to yourself, do you think I don't see it when you do that in your cell? The emperor might have controlled my body and my actions but I was still able to see and suffer. Stop this, it's not your goddamn fault," Raph snapped at the turtle in his grasp. "You did it only once, you were drunk, you were not thinking, you hardly knew what you were doing and you two made up the next day."

Leonardo didn't answer; he had ceased struggling but kept staring hatefully at his hands. The cyborg let go and for a moment stared down at his older brother. Donatello saw now that all his robotic implants made Raphael a foot taller than him.

 _Poor guy, he really is torturing himself._ The ninja folded his arms and looked at his ankle. It was well wrapped and the bandage supported it well. _I can hardly imagine how this is for them, their own brother going nuts like this. I could never… no matter what would happen._

"We can start working on the transpad if you are ready." The cyborg approached him again. Leonardo sat on the floor looking utterly miserable. Raphael noticed that Don was looking at the sitting turtle.

"There are still some effects of the analyzer left, for one he is constantly reminded of some stupid things he did when we lived in hiding so he has these episodes from time to time," Raphael explained. Donatello decided not to pry any further and together he and the cyborg walked to the transpad, although the young turtle did so hesitantly since April was still there reading the logs, she didn't seem to have noticed the commotion earlier.

Leonardo remained behind, still staring at his hands. He hadn't hit them hard enough to draw blood but they hurt and deep inside he was glad they hurt. _They deserve it, for what I did._

He closed his eyes tight and tears slowly crawled down his cheeks, he lost himself again in thoughts, clenching his soar fists.

* * *

 _He opened the makeshift door that covered the entrance to their hiding place. It had been few months since they escaped and so far nobody knew that they had hidden down below, under the city._

 _Leonardo walked unsteadily inside and stopped in the main room of their home. Steadying himself on a ratty old table Raphael had salvaged from a dumpster and fixed. His head was swimming, he wanted to throw up, yet this made him forget for a moment._

 _'Leo-bro?' a whispering voice addressed him. He turned to see the seven-year-old turtle standing there in a tunnel entrance that led to the four bedrooms. The young child was rubbing one eye tiredly and clasped a stuffed toy that had been made for him at some point since they moved in here._

 _'Why are you up?' Leonardo asked sharply and scowled, despite his drunken state his voice somehow managed to sound clear._

 _'I-I couldn't sleep,' the youngster said frightened to see his oldest brother so angry suddenly. 'I heard you come, something wrong? Why are you angry?'_

 _'I am angry because you are supposed to be in bed' Leonardo snapped and pointed at the tunnel. 'Now go there.'_

 _The older turtle turned away growling, the frustration growing due to his intoxicated state. The burden of leadership had been put on him because he was the oldest, Raphael was 18 a year younger than him, Donatello turned 7 this year and little Mikey was 2. He had to look out for them, make sure their hideout was hidden, make sure they had food and they were safe. Raphael could help but the burden was not on him, the stress was slowly grabbing a hold on Leonardo._

 _'It's okay Leo-bro,' the small voice said and a small hand was put on his._

 _'I told you to GO TO BED!' Leo roared, turned and using the back of his hand slapped the young turtle in the face. The child flew to the floor, from there the boy stared at the drunken turtle frightened and confused. Tears welled in his young eyes._

 _Leo looked just as confused; he stared at the child and then slowly looked at the hand he had used._

 _'Go to bed Donatello, its okay, I'll come in just a minute,' another voice, deeper. Leonardo saw that Raphael had appeared, gathered the crying child into his arms and was hugging him tight. Then he let go off him and the boy ran to the tunnel and disappeared into his room._

 _'Raphael… I…' Leonardo didn't get further as a fist connected with his jaw snapping it shut and sent him hurling to the floor._

 _'Don't you ever, EVER, dare to lay a hand on him again,' Raphael growled. 'And don't you ever come home drunk. Where the HELL did you get drunk anyway?'_

 _'I…' Leo didn't even try to stand up. Just rubbed his chin where the fist had landed. 'I found a bottle… I just…'_

 _'Leo, I can't take care of them both alone. I need you man and I need you sane. Don't ever come home drunk again, ever,' Raphael helped the older turtle to his feet. 'Look I know it's hard, we live a hard life but there is nothing to do about that but live. Donatello and Michelangelo need us and they need us in good shape. What if those from the lab find us, then it's up to us to protect them. I can't do that alone.'_

 _'All right, I'm sorry, I-I won't do this again,' Leo shook his head and almost fell over but was supported by his brother._

 _'Time for you to go bed, but you better apologize to Donny-boy tomorrow, you know he practically worships you and I don't want him to fear you.' Raphael then helped the nodding drunk turtle to his bedroom._

* * *

Leonardo stood up shivering. In reality and long before things had changed this event had been forgiven and forgotten. _But Donatello then decided to remind me of every single time I punished him, every single time…_

The turtle glanced around and saw that his cyborg brother was talking with April who still viewed the young turtle who looked just like the emperor fearfully. He guessed correctly that they were still trying to convince her that this Donatello was good.

* * *

 **2k3 TMNT world**

"Hi Leo," April greeted the blue-clad turtle when she opened the door to her apartment. "Looking for Donny?"

"Yeah," he said smiling slightly. "Am I right that he is here?"

"Yeah, he is a bit upset over current events." The woman gestured the turtle to walk in. "I'm sorry about Splinter, I wish I could do something."

"I wish I could do something." Leonardo walked in. "But the only one who can is Donatello."

"He's very upset over Raphael," April told him as they walked into the living room, the turtle saw no sign of a purple-clad one. "He's down in the basement, I don't know what is wrong with that thing but the water heater still won't heat the water properly."

"Didn't Don fix it already?" Leo scratched the back of his head. He saw that April was looking at him very sternly.

"Why was Raphael accusing him of taking drugs and drugging Splinter?" she asked. The blue clad turtle wished suddenly to sink to the floor, looked like Donatello had poured out his feelings on the woman and now he was to take the heat.

"I don't know, both Raph and he have been behaving strangely since yesterday," Leo said.

"Well Don did have an accident yesterday didn't he? What's Raph's excuse," April said with a frown.

"I don't know, but I better got talk to Don. We kind of need him to help Splinter and Mikey seems to be ill too." Leo quickly realized that if he wanted to keep, figuratively speaking, his ears still intact he better evict himself out of the apartment.

"He's in the basement," April repeated and the turtle nodded thanks before walking out again. The woman sighed shaking the head before sitting down on the couch.

Leonardo found Don right where he had been told the purple-masked one was. His brother sat cross-legged in front of the heater and seemed deep in thought.

"Donatello?" Leo addressed him. That startled his 'brother' who quickly glanced back before facing the heater again.

"What do you want?" his voice was bitter.

"Don, look I'm sorry about Raph, but you know how he can be, doesn't always think before speaking," Leo began sounding concerned. "Donatello we need you, Master Splinter needs you and Mikey too, he seriously ill."

"What's wrong with Mikey." Don turned sharply and stood up.

"He's in his room in agony, we have given him pain killers but they don't work. He even tried to bang his head against the wall, trying to knock himself unconscious. Raphael had to hold him down for ten minutes before he would stop," Leonardo explained.

 _Good, perfect, the formula works then perfectly._ The emperor smiled on the inside but on the outside he put yet another act into play. His lips started to quiver and the turtle looked like he was about to cry.

"This is my fault," he sobbed hammering a fist into the heater. "I asked him try a modified shell-cell, it did something that hurt him. I thought it was just a static shock caused by a loose wire."

"Donny, I'm not… we are not blaming you." Leo approached the turtle and took him into a hug. "It's ok Don."

"No it's not ok. Raphael hates me, Splinter is maybe dying and now Mikey is hurting and what I have been able to do? NOTHING!" Donatello continued to sob on Leo's shoulder.

"Don, I know you will find what's wrong, you never give up. Mikey needs help too and you are the one with the most medical knowledge aside from Master Splinter." Leo patted the emperor on the shell reassuringly. "Don't worry about Raph; I will hold him off your shell. But we need you."

"All right, all right," Donatello whispered and they separated. The purple clad one started to dry his tears. "But let's say goodbye to April first."

Leonardo nodded and turned heading straight for the entrance out of the basement. Behind him came the emperor shaking his head.

 _So easy, you are way too trusting Leonardo, that is going to be your downfall,_ he thought and followed the katana-wielding turtle out. Since Donatello was in the rear, he didn't see the strange smile Leonardo sported for just a second as they ascended up the stairs.

 **End Chapter 6**

* * *

 **A/N:** And in case anybody is wondering, the events in the Turtotopia world are few hours behind the events in the TMNT world as of now, it's first now the next day for good Donatello since he came to Turtotopia but for Evil Don it's the evening of the second day in the TMNT world for him.

This just means that were are jumping back and forth a bit in time. This does not mean that time flows differently in different dimensions :-D


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 17/12 2005

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

 **2k3- TMNT world**

 _"What is going on here?" Raphael growled and struggled against the bonds holding him to the table._

 _"What is going on? What is going on? I will tell you what is going on," a familiar voice sneered. "You and your fucking attitude is what is going on."_

 _Raph glared in the direction of the voice, he could see the silhouette of a mutant turtle standing close by, it approached and revealed Donatello. He was wearing an uncharacteristic scowl._

 _"I'm sick and tired of your fucking attitude Raphael I have finally realized that you see me as nothing but a tool, a tool to fix anything that you break with your attitude. Do I get a thank you Don, or am I politely asked to fix something you break? Nooooo I'm fucking ORDERED to fix it," the purple clad turtle yelled._

 _"That is not true Don," Raphael was momentarily shocked to see his brother behave like that. Then pain shot throughout his body as he was electrocuted, when it stopped he saw that Donatello was holding a remote._

 _"Don't lie to me," Don snapped and then smiled sadistically. "I will be very upset if you lie to me."_

 _"As opposed to now?" Raph frowned. Donatello laughed an insane laughter._

 _"Where are Mike and Leo, Master Splinter," the red wearing turtle demanded. Don continued to laugh._

 _"The old rat? I sliced it up an hour ago while you were still knocked out. Leo, well he didn't do well as crash dummy for the improved sewer slider. I'm afraid he didn't do very well at all," Don said casually then pointed to his left. "Oh and Mikey is over there."_

 _Raph, still recovering over the shock of hearing what his brother said, looked where he pointed. His orange-clad brother was sitting on the floor, holding his head and moaning in pain._

 _"What did you do too him?" Raphael snapped and struggled more but was again sapped with electricity to stop him._

 _"Poor little Mikey, he has such a big headache. I think I'll need to crack open his skull to cure it." Don shrugged and grabbed a wrench from a nearby toolbox._

 _"What? NO!" Raph shouted and watched in horror as Don raised the tool and approached their brother._

"NO I'LL KILL YOU!" Raphael roared and jumped off his hammock. He stood still in the dark room panting and realizing this had just been a dream.

"Rough night?" a quiet voice asked him. Turning swiftly to the entrance, Raph's eyes widened to see the emperor standing there arms folded with a sly smirk.

"You?" he snarled. "What do you want Donatello?"

"Peace on earth and goodwill among turtles," Donatello said with sarcasm. "Come with me, I want to show you something."

Raphael was about to tell him to simply shove it but the other turtle was already out of the doorway and walking away. Curious enough the hotheaded ninja decided to follow. He frowned when he saw that Donatello was approaching Mikey's bedroom.

"The shell are you doing?" Raph growled running after him but just missed the emperor as he entered the room.

Donatello sat now on a chair beside a peacefully sleeping Mikey. Raphael at first thought his brother was still under effect of whatever the emperor had injected him with when returning to the lair. He had refused to indulge Leo and Raph on what it had been; only that it would help Mike sleep.

Raph noticed the clock; it showed it was almost morning. He looked at Donatello who was staring smiling at Mikey.

"Why are we here?" he asked. The emperor glanced at him with the same knowing look he had given him yesterday.

"Raphael, I'm warning you to lay off my shell and stay out of my business," Donatello began casually, ignoring the look he was now receiving from Raph. "If you don't, little Mikey here will be suffering far more than yesterday."

"Why you little…" Raph approached but Donatello suddenly held a small remote in his hand. That stopped the other turtle. The device was disturbingly familiar.

"Come any closer will prompt me to press this button here," the emperor said indicating the large black button his thumb was currently on. "And little Mikey will die when I do. Trust me when I say, it will be a slow and painful death as electricity slowly fries his brain."

"W-what?" Raph could hardly believe his ears, this couldn't be his brother. Donatello would never do something like this. The emperor smiled sadistically, that too was familiar. _My dream..._

"Oh and tell Leo anything will also result in little Mikey's very painful death, in fact just stay out of my way and be a good little turtle and everything will be just fine," Don said. "Also I am the only one who can wake Splinter up. I'm afraid I don't have any notes how to make the antidote, it's all in my head so step on my toes and I'm afraid I will forget it. Splinter will die eventually if he doesn't get it. Die very slowly I might add."

"You… you little… who are you, Donatello would never do something like this," Raphael snarled and pointed at the emperor threateningly. The other turtle only shook his head.

"Let's stick to what is important. Bother me, your brother and your sensei will die, understood?" Donatello made a point by beginning to press the button on the remote.

"No! All right, all right." Raph realized he couldn't win this, not right now but he was still glaring daggers at the turtle he was now very sure was not his relative.

"And another thing." The emperor tapped his left temple. "Inside here is a small device and it emits a signal. That signals is sent to a similar device, the one now implanted in little Mikey and can cause his death if you bother me. Now this signal dies if I die, so even if you manage to steal the remote and in your usual rash manner kill me, you will be killing little Mikey. Because then the signal dies and it will trigger the other device to begin frying your brother's brain. So do we really have an understanding, are you going to lay off my shell?"

"If you hurt him," Raphael snarled but Donatello shook his head.

"You are in no position to make threats; your behavior towards me will determine whether your brother and father survive. Now Raphael do we have an understanding, you can of course risk it, go tell Leo everything just don't expect Mikey to be calmly sleeping when you two come back," the emperor said.

Raphael was defeated, he wanted to strangle the turtle in front of him right now but he couldn't risk Mike or Splinter, he couldn't take the chance. _You just watch it pal, I am going to be watching you. You are going to drop your guard someday._

"Uh what's going on?" Mike suddenly woke up groggy after having been woken up. He put his hand on this temple where he sported a bandage Raphael hadn't noticed. "Why is my head bandaged?"

"You knocked your head up against a wall and managed to cut yourself in your sleep, I had just finished taking care of it. We were slightly worried, right Raph?" Donatello looked at Raphael who stood in the doorway and glanced at the remote, the emperor was more than ready to use it.

"Yeah, I guess," Raph muttered defeat in his voice.

"I don't remember that?" Mike mumbled rubbing the un-bandaged part of his head.

"You were still under the effect of the medicine I gave you for your pain yesterday." Donatello patted Mike on the shell earning a dagger glare from Raph.

"Man and you were complaining about your day Donny?" Mikey grinned giving the emperor who laughed a nudge.

"Everything all right in here?" Leo appeared behind Raph having spotted the turtle standing in Mikey's doorway. "Mikey you feeling better?"

"Much better, the pain is gone. Donny had to patch me up, I apparently trashed myself against the wall." Michelangelo pointed at the bandage and smiled sheepishly.

"Raph, is something wrong?" Leonardo saw that Raph was fuming; in fact he looked on the verge of explosion.

"I'm fine," he said between his teeth staring with hateful eyes at Donatello. He was not dealing well with having the knowledge and exposing it would risk his family. So he turned rather violently, pushed Leo aside before storming into his own room.

"What's with him?" The blue clad turtle asked startled, but looking at the other turtles only gave him shrugs in response.

* * *

 **Turtotopia**

Donatello had simply decided not to even try convincing April that he was not the bad guy. After all, the cyborg hadn't been convinced until he had literally drilled into his brain. Instead, the turtle opted to simply go straight to work on the transpad leaving Raphael to deal with the woman.

"You ok?" Leo was looking at him questionably. Don looked up, it hadn't gone past him that this adult turtle was becoming very attentive of him.

"I'm fine." He continued to look at the open panel, the same panel he had seen when he arrived in this world yesterday. In fact he had woken up next to it.

"She hit you hard?" Leonardo sat close, keeping a watchful eye on the younger turtle. Don touched the sore spot where the woman had hit him on the cheek.

"Not really, I have been hit harder," Donatello said and began to examine the wires. The cyborg had told him not to do anything until he returned. Raph had decided to take April back and try again later to convince her about the turtle.

"What do you mean?" Leo tensed up; Don could clearly hear the anger in his voice.

"Like I told your brother, I am a ninja. My brothers are ninjas too and we have managed to gain enemies and have wound up in fights, my weapon is called a Bo, it's a staff not unlike those that are on the emblem," Donatello pointed at the large emblem on the wall.

"Yeah, I was surprised that he used his old Halloween costume as an emblem for his empire." Leo glanced at the wall. Don eyed him strangely.

"You are telling me that he dressed up in a mask and wielded two staffs for Halloween?" Donatello asked surprised. Leonardo nodded and actually smiled rather happily.

"He was ten, we knew the laboratory people had long given up searching for us and Halloween is the only time we were safe back then to go out in public. We all went out but added some clothes on us to add to our 'costumes'. Raphael found this all ridiculous but played along and sported a red cape; I just put on a blue shirt. Donatello of course had to be creative as always, found a purple cloth and made into a mask, he researched with all the books we had found for him and managed to learn about various weapons. He made what was quickest to make, the two staffs. We dressed Mikey up in an orange jacket that was way too large for him." Leo chuckled and Donatello did as well but more at the coincidence of the color choice.

"It was back when we were still family and before Don began having temper problems," the older turtle sighed heavily.

"Temper problems?" Don looked up from the panel.

"It started slowly, just suddenly he would lash out and he seemed the most sensitive about anything regarding Mikey. Then sometimes, it was no matter what we said, he would snap back and have an attitude on us. I tried my best to handle him, we had split up in the care. Raphael handled Mikey for the most part and I was to look out for Donatello but he slowly stopped listening to me and Raphael had to step in from time to time. At other times he was just like we usually knew him, mild, sensitive and kind." Leonardo shrugged, his smile long gone.

"Ok let's get this transpad working." The canned voice of Raphael interrupted them as the cyborg came walking. "Now first off we need to put it back together, I see that the emperor had been fixing it before switching with you."

"Easier said than done, I have no idea what wires should connect to what. I wouldn't want to risk being turned inside out." Donatello stopped fiddling with the open panel and looked at the mechanical turtle who was smirking.

"Or a fly accidentally transports with you and you will be a mutant turtlefly," the cyborg said and for the first time Don heard him laugh loudly. It was almost ghostly because of his almost artificial voice.

"I see 'The Fly' was made in this world as well," the ninja chuckled.

"I liked the remake better, gorier," Raph claimed, Leo on the other hand made a face.

"I lost my lunch we saw that thing," he muttered. The cyborg looked at his brother, grinning as wide as the organic half of his face allowed.

"Come on Leo, you laughed when he digested the foot off the guy," he said. Donatello eyed the two brothers, somehow he felt much less tense to see them interact so normally, he had a feeling that they hadn't had the chance for some time.

"I hate to spoil the mood, but I don't know how to fix this panel and would like some help." He pointed at the panel.

"Assistance coming right up." Raphael walked closer raising his left hand; he knelt slowly and carefully by the panel. Out of the knuckles, there came tiny robotic arms and once the cyborg moved them closer to the wires, they instantly began working on them.

"Ok that's cool," Donatello remarked when seeing this. "So what exactly can you do?"

"My right arm has all the torture tools plus the laser gun, my left arm I can use for repairs like these, it's limited though. Don't expect me to start building anything," the mechanical turtle explained, his grin vanished for a moment. "The rest is just so I can move and survive. I am more a machine now than organic, there is very little left of my original body."

"How do you sustain yourself?" Don asked before realizing how this sounded like interrogation. "Sorry to be so nosy, I'm just very into technology."

"Don't apologize, I fully understand. I can eat like any normal person, and I have to too sustain what little is left of my organic self, the rest I need to recharge with electricity, basically I just plug myself in." Raphael used his right hand to knock his shell, when hearing the metallic sound Don realized that it was fake just like the plastron. "My carapace is simply a shield for my battery; I carry it on my back."

The tiny arms finished working on the wires and Raphael closed the panel. They all stood up and for a moment stared at the platform unsure.

"I don't think this is going to be simple," Don said scratching his head. The cyborg nodded and walked to the computer console. Like before instead of using the keyboard he connected himself directly to it.

"Hm, the glitch is still there, wait the maintaining program reports a damaged part. We need to replace it before we can use the transpad," Raphael reported looking at the other turtles. "Looks like the explosion did some damage but not enough to destroy anything fortunately, maybe the switching process helped shielding the most vital parts."

"Ok, what needs to be fixed and or replaced?" Donatello asked, mildly amused for some reason to hear a turtle named Raphael speak like that, but he reminded himself that this wasn't exactly his Raph.

"The stabilizer grid and one power pack," the cyborg answered.

"Where do we get them?" the ninja turtle asked.

"I am afraid we are going to have to send for them," Raph said sighing. "And it will probably take two days for the parts to arrive. This is the only transpad in the whole palace and it isn't currently transporting within the country."

* * *

 **2k3-TMNT world.**

"Yes is this the flower shop? Good, you got roses? Great, look I have this credit card number." The emperor was using the shell-cell like a regular phone; he gave the other line a credit card number he had written down on a piece of paper. "Checks out good? Fantastic, ok I want you to send twenty red roses to April O'Neil, Second Time Around Antique shop. On the card, I want it to say, 'I couldn't ask for a better friend, Donatello'. Got all that? Great."

He hung up and closed the cell chuckling and stood up. He was up in the warehouse and had actually been sitting in front of the Battle shell. The turtle glanced at the note and shook his head even more.

"You got to love computers and hacking, this was just too easy. The best part is, by the time they figure out something is odd with the number, I have already began conquering this world." Donatello walked towards the elevator. He had gone to the warehouse under the pretense of checking the car before resuming his 'work' on finding cure for Splinter. "In other words, not until after several weeks."

 _Now, I wonder if Raph decided to be brave and blab,_ he thought while riding down back to the lair. The turtle had his hand ready to grab the remote that would kill Mikey in the most agonizing way. Once the door opened and he was not greeted with weapons, Donatello relaxed slightly. He saw where Leonardo was coming out of the kitchen with a teacup in one hand.

"Leo, can I speak with you for a second?" Donatello asked casually. The blue-clad turtle immediately approached him, leaving the cup on the coffee table.

"Something wrong?" Leo asked but the emperor only gestured to the elevator indicating that he wished this to be a private conversation.

"I'm worried about Raphael," the emperor said once they were on their way up. "His behavior towards me is highly unusual."

"You don't say." Leonardo folded his arms staring attentively at the other turtle. Donatello shook his head looking down.

"You think I'm up to something, just like him don't you?" his voice was accusing while glancing at the other turtle.

"That's not true Donatello, but I do think you are not telling us everything," Leonardo said smiling slightly. The smile surprised the emperor.

 _Hm, that's odd,_ he thought but then the elevator reached the top and opened the door. Both turtles walked out.

"You are right, I haven't been entirely truthful to you guys," Donatello mentioned and walked few steps away from the blue clad turtle that stood still and watched his movements.

"This is something that has been going on since before the accident in my room," he continued and began pacing back and forth.

"Why hide it?" Leo asked.

"Because I didn't want anybody to worry.," Donatello stopped his pacing and looked at Leo, he managed to force out some tears to add to his act. "I just thought I could handle it."

"But you can't," the other turtle claimed, the emperor shrugged.

"I am sorry I lied about Raph and seeing me that night, I just panicked when I realized he saw me, I didn't want anybody to see this." Donatello began walking towards a workbench; he raised an eye-ridge when there was a frustrated sigh from the blue-clad turtle.

"Stop this fucking act it's getting ridiculous," a voice that sounded like Leonardo's said but the emperor was very surprised to hear how growling it was. Donatello turned to face Leo and saw that his arms were folded but his face was in a sneer.

"Leo, did you just swear?" he asked but almost regretted asking. Leo's movements were incredibly fast. He was up close in matter of seconds with a drawn katana blade and threatening to cut Donatello's throat.

"It's Leonardo to you, bitch," the turtle snarled and removed the katana and backed away. The emperor rubbed his throat staring surprised at the turtle.

"You are not the Leonardo I thought you were… are you?" he took a few steps back regarding the now evilly smirking ninja.

"Bingo," Leonardo said with a wink and sheathed his sword. "And you are not the Donatello who I have so far thought was."

"How the hel… who the hell are you?" Donatello asked surprised and slightly worried. He somehow figured he couldn't blackmail this turtle the same way he did with Raphael.

"I'm Leonardo, the greatest assassin and bounty hunter in the multiverse," the other turtle said with a wide smile and did a mocking bow.

"All right, how long have you exactly been here?" the emperor asked. The assassin shrugged carelessly.

"About a month or so," he explained. "Studying the turtles here, their moves and behavior, I didn't replace myself with my counterpart though until you put their master to sleep, I knew he would recognize me instantly."

 _Shit, this could put dampers in my plan._ The emperor gulped. "So what do you want?"

"Personally? Nothing, I was just having a bit of fun until you showed up. I was in fact giving up trying to infiltrate their lair until you put their rat out of commission," Leonardo walked closer.

"So you… wait when did you switch places?" Donatello realized suddenly that the other Leonardo would still be around.

"When he went to fetch you from April's apartment, I have been studying them and their friends for a month. I knew very well how to act when I came to get you and bring you back to the lair, you are not a bad actor I must say, that show of yours in the basement was very good." The assassin clapped his hands but his smile was mocking.

The emperor couldn't back away further as his shell touched the wall and Leonardo just kept walking closer.

 _Great, everything was going just brilliantly and then this happens,_ he thought as the blue clad turtle came all the way up to him, reached out with his right hand and forcefully removed the purple mask.

"Emperor Donatello of Turtotopia I presume?" the assassin asked smugly when the scar was now visible on emperor's left temple.

"How did you know?" Donatello asked frowning. Leonardo laughed heartily.

"I have been in your world as well emperor, studied your and what was possible to study of your brothers." He then promptly drew up a device from the back of his belt that looked a bit like a pocket calculator. "I have been too many worlds; you wouldn't believe how many they are, so many challenges and so much money to be had."

 _Ok, this Leonardo is a greedy assassin and I thought I was nuts._ The emperor stared at the turtle unsure; he folded his arms before addressing him again. "So what do you want with me? Now that you are revealing yourself."

"I won't be in your way of whatever you are going to be doing here and I will help you keep Raphael off your shell. However, it will come at a price and don't forget, I don't care if you fry that little twerp's brain," the assassin offered.

"And the price is?" Donatello was almost too afraid to ask.

"Money of course, you think I'm running a charity operation here or something? When you take over this place, don't forget who helped you with it," Leonardo smiled strangely.

"I think I can handle that Leonardo, I'm glad to have you on my side." The emperor shrugged and put out his hand.

"Oh no Donatello, the pleasure is all mine." The voice could have chilled a campfire as the assassin took the emperor's hand and they shook.

 **End chapter 7**

* * *

 **A/N:** How is that for a plot twist?

And thus a legend was born.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 21/12 2005

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

 **Turtotopia**

"Ready for another try?" the cyborg asked. Donatello looked up from the computer.

"You sure we need her?" he asked. "I mean I can understand if she doesn't want to work with me."

"She could provide valuable assistance," Raph answered, but the younger turtle wasn't as convinced. He somehow felt that there were other reasons for convincing this world's April.

"Well we are at standstill until the parts arrive; you ordered them yesterday so they should come tomorrow." Don sighed, he was worried and hated having to wait. Who knows what the emperor was doing to his world.

"And so far nobody suspects that the emperor is missing, the human countries are still trying to treaty with us. Some of the major powers are ready to allow Turtotopia to exist if we get more lenient…" Raphael slapped his forehead when he realized he had gone into full report mode. "Sorry forgot you probably don't even care about this."

"No, no, that's actually very interesting to hear." Don turned away from the console. "So that's why everything is at standstill, there is a peace talk going on?"

"Correct, originally it's just a sadistic game for my brother, he actually has the full technological power to crush the rest of the world's powers, but he is pretending to play nice and fair. Then he plans take over the rest once the others drop their guard, well he planned. Not sure that will happen now," Raph grinned. Don rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"So they don't want to dismantle the country like it is now?" he asked, the cyborg shook his head. "That's interesting, I would have thought that would be a top demand, return the lands to their original owners."

"Well… considering…" Raphael began to look around almost nervously; he then turned and walked to the stasis tubes. "You see after a while… my brother didn't just clone."

The cyborg began operating on one of the tubes, and it opened with a steamy hiss. Once the steam had subsided, Donatello saw to his shock what looked like a mutant turtle inside. Quickly the mechanical turtle closed the tube again and once more you couldn't see inside except the eerie purple glow.

"Most of the original owners have kind of been 'assimilated' into Turtotopia, my brother began shortly after the major conquest to experiment on the human population. I don't know how but he discovered how to mutate them and promptly began to do so, filling the country with turtles replacing slowly the human population." The cyborg walked slowly back to the stunned ninja. "These in the tubes here are former rebellion members, my brother wanted to closely monitor their mutation process."

"Your brother… is sick," Don finally uttered after recovering from most of the shock.

"Yeah… I don't even know where these stasis tubes came from, some of the stuff he's been using for the mutation looks way too sophisticated to just have been invented on the fly. You would almost think Don was being supplied this stuff, but for all I know he managed to build it," Raphael told him, then looked at Leonardo was waking up from where he had been sleeping on the floor.

"So you see, the rest of the world has seen that most of Turtotopia is still inhabited by its original owners technically speaking. Thus their demands for return of the lands are almost non-existent. Instead they are more ready to allow us to exist if we get more lenient on our populace," Raphael explained.

"Well so much for my plan to help you overthrow the emperor and destroy his evil empire," Donatello joked, both older turtles laughed.

"Oh we can dispose of the empire easily enough, change Turtotopia slightly so its people have more freedom," the cyborg said.

"Ok let's not start daydreaming just yet, remember even if we get him home, we still have to deal with our brother and you know Donatello… that is our Donatello he always has a backup plan, always." Leonardo warned them, his brother nodded in agreement.

 _I was wondering when he would remind me of my Leonardo,_ Don thought as he turned back to the computer. "Well I have gone over the computer logs of the transpad and I think I can have it transport without the switching effect, I don't think I want to switch if he's doing something."

"Good, because I'm coming over as well, you will need me to back up your story just in case," Raphael said with a frown.

"I'm coming too," Leo said. Donatello just nodded not arguing, he figured that he would need all the help possible once returning home.

"What the…" the cyborg turned when a sound indicated somebody was at the door. "Ok I'll get it."

The mechanical turtle stalked to the doorway. Donatello saw him open it and by the looks of it a lone soldier was outside. He spoke fast and tried not to look up at the towering cyborg before running off. Raphael returned walking slowly, his organic eye twitching.

"Well, so much for the Rebellion," he muttered. "Well it was pretty much crushed anyway, most of the members are mutants now."

"What?" both Don and Leo asked at the same time. The cyborg sighed heavily.

"The last base of the Rebellion was destroyed just this morning," Raphael told them. "And it has been confirmed that the Rebellion leader, Arnold Casey Jones was killed. His body is being shipped to the palace for further examination as was ordered long ago."

"Great." Donatello covered his face with his palms. "Any more 'good' news?"

"Oh yeah, test results from the other lab." Raph didn't seem all too eager to continue, both Leo and Don had to ask him twice what results he was talking about.

"April has been confirmed pregnant." the cyborg finally gave in, stunning the other two turtles.

"She is what?" Donatello's jaw dropped.

"That's why the emperor didn't have her mutated into a turtle; he wanted to see if mutants could impregnate humans. Apparently the test was a success," Raphael growled.

"And let me guess, he was the generous donor of the seed?" Don asked very unimpressed.

"Considering that they both share a bedroom, I don't believe the answer is no," the cyborg said between his teeth. "This brings me back to that. Do you want to try again to convince her that you are not the emperor?"

"Ugh, oh very well we can try, don't see the point but we can try." Donatello shrugged and faced the computer again.

* * *

 **Somewhere**

He could only remember running as his eyes slowly opened. Everything was blurry. The turtle blinked to try to regain focus, then found that his hands were chained behind his back and the chain was linked to a wall.

Leonardo jumped up and instantly tried to pull at the chain. The turtle grunted in frustration and pulled harder but no avail, the chain and the ring were just too strong. He slumped back to his knees.

 _What happened? I was on my way to April's… figured Don would have gone there… I thought I saw something._ He shook his head trying to clear his mind. It was very difficult to focus, whatever hit him had hit him hard.

"I wouldn't try too hard, you are still waking up from the drug," a voice told him. Leonardo looked up frowning, that voice had been familiar and disturbingly so. It was his own voice and out of the shadow came a turtle dressed exactly like him, or so he thought. Leo realized now that he was naked more so than usual, his belt, pads and even mask had been removed.

"Wha… what is going on?" Leo glared at the turtle, it was like staring into a mirror just this time the reflection could talk back. The other Leonardo walked closer with hands on his hips staring down at the chained turtle with an evil smirk.

"What does it look like, you are chained to a wall and have in front of you an alternative universe version of yourself," the assassin said. "I'm infiltrating your place and thanks to somebody you think is your brother, it's going very well."

"What?" Leonardo tried his chain again but his efforts only resulted in the other one to laugh.

"Chill down, you aren't going anywhere with these chains on you. Heh, in fact you are not going anywhere at all," the other Leonardo walked even closer. "I'm afraid things have gone a little messy for your poor little world."

"What do you mean?" Leo asked. His counterpart stood now very close.

"Remember that accident that occurred in your brother's room? Well you see it wasn't exactly anything in his room that exploded, it was some short of a transporter in another world who did and some of the explosion carried over to yours. In that explosion, your brother and an alternative version of him switched places. Unfortunately for your world, your brother's double is an evil genius bent on letting humans suffer." the assassin examined Leo with his eyes.

"It never ceases to amaze me no matter what world I go to, I always look so handsome." his double then completely changed the subject and backed a step. He was earned with a very confused glance from the chained prisoner.

 _Okay, that was unexpected,_ Leo thought realizing now that his captor was not just examining him, he was admiring the view. The turtle gathered up the nerves to speak with a hiss. "If you have harmed my family then you are sorely going to regret it."

"Uh, you know, you really aren't exactly in the proper position to be making threats," his counterpart chuckled. He removed the blue mask from his head and began to examine it.

"You know Leonardo, blue really isn't our color," he said walking off into the shadow only to return shortly later with a black mask. "Black is the way to go."

"Really," Leo grunted, he wanted more information but knew his captor was right. He wasn't in the position to demand it.

"Yep, black, color of power." The assassin tied the black mask around his head then posed dramatically in front of his prisoner. "Like it?"

 _He's asking me?_ Leo raised an eye ridge. However, his double didn't wait for an answer and disappeared once more. When he appeared again, the pads were gone and so were the katana and the belt.

The assassin was dressed in his full gear, he had knee and elbow pads of his own as well as a belt but it had on it what looked like pouches and gadgets unfamiliar to the chained turtle. He was wearing a shirt of some sort and leather shorts, obviously specifically made to fit his terrapin body. On his back he carried a rifle and one katana sword with black handle. His hands had gloves specifically made for his three fingered hands and he wore sandals on his feet. Everything had it in common of being black in color.

"Who the shell are you?" the chained turtle asked when seeing this double dressed like that. The assassin bowed mockingly.

"I'm Leonardo, feared assassin and bounty hunter across the multiverse," the turtle said while walking closer.

"So, what do you want?" Leo asked while trying his chains again.

"I came about a month ago to your world and began watching you and your brothers. My surveillance gear gave me the insight into you and your family so I could possibly infiltrate it later on," his double explained. "But you seldom went anywhere alone, your brother Raphael did but I can't exactly impersonate him easily. As well as your rat sensei posed a problem, he would recognize that I wasn't his Leonardo instantly."

"Why?" the prisoner asked between his teeth's, anger slowly rising. He was surprised by the answer.

"Training," the assassin said simply. Leo dropped his forming angry scowl into a confused one.

"This is how I train; test my skills on my doubles across the many worlds that contain us mutated turtles. You don't think yours is the only one do you? I play around for a while before going and find a contract job, you know the usual, people to kill or hunt down and bring back where they belong." The black clad turtle shrugged carelessly.

"This… this is just training for you?" Leonardo hardly could believe this. "What… what do you do with your doubles?"

"Duh, set them free of course, I said I was an assassin. I don't kill unless I'm paid for it." His double began looking at the tips of his fingers on the right hand before glancing at the prisoner. Somehow, that felt like only half the truth to the chained reptile.

"So don't worry, I'll be off shortly after your brother's double starts executing his plans and I'll let you go. You can then try and fix the damage he'll make, whatever you feel like doing."

"What is my brother's double going to do?" Leo rose up to his feet again not hiding his worries.

"I don't really know, conquer this world like he did with his I guess." The assassin shrugged obviously not caring one bit. "He has paid me to keep your hotheaded brother off his back while he begins his stuff."

 _Raph was right, and just like I suspected, there was something going on with Donatello and now I know it wasn't even our Donatello._ Leonardo sunk to his knees _. And here I am bound and helpless. Oh no, Master Splinter, Mikey and Raph… and Don…_

"Wait!" he yelled when noticing that the assassin was leaving, but his double paid him no mind and kept going. "WAIT!"

* * *

 **2k3 - TMNT world**

"Oh Donny what an unexpected surprise," April said when opening the door revealing the purple wearing turtle.

"Hi April," the emperor said putting on his best innocent smile. "So did you get the items I needed?"

"Yes, they are downstairs," the woman responded and gestured the ninja to come into the living room. "Why do you need them for?"

"Oh just a secret project of mine," the turtle said, he pulled his hands from behind the back to reveal a candy box and flowers. Donatello gave them to the stunned woman.

"More flowers? Donatello I'm still getting over the roses you sent yesterday, thanks," she said accepting the gifts and gave the turtle a peck on the cheek.

"Yeah, well we don't have many friends among humans," the emperor said while sitting down in a chair, April had gone to find a vase for her flowers. He noticed that the roses had been placed in one on the table.

"And I consider myself lucky to be friends with you and your brothers, I couldn't ask for better ones." The woman came with the flowers in a vase and put it on top of the TV. She sat down on the couch close to the chair the emperor sat in.

"Something wrong Don, Raph wasn't giving you a hard time again was he?" April noticed the strange face on the turtle; he looked sunken into deep thoughts.

"No, Leo is keeping him in check… I was… well… no it's stupid." He looked away rubbing the back of his head. "I… well I shouldn't."

"What?" April edging herself closer on the couch.

 _What the hell do you think you're doing?_ The cold voice suddenly rushed through Donatello's head.

 _Putting a stop to this, we've gone too far,_ the meek mellow voice responded, sounding much more confident. Somehow the turtle showed no sign of his inner debate.

 _WHAT?_ The angry voice screamed in rage.

 _Today's dosage, you had me mix the wrong chemical, it gave you the control,_ the cold voice snarled.

"Donatello, you can tell me." April came closer and laid a hand on Donatello's shoulder. The turtle had turned very quiet on the outside.

 _We didn't take today's dosage. I had you be so busy you forgot it,_ the meek voice peeped.

 _You'll ruin everything,_ the angry voice burst again. The emperor grabbed his head groaning in pain.

"Donatello?" April grabbed the turtle as he almost sunk to the floor from the chair. She somehow managed to drag him to the couch.

"Need… go to lair…" the emperor whispered and then his voice suddenly changed and was softer, almost shy. "Danger… You are in…"

"Shut up!" he growled, the woman was shocked; the turtle hadn't been addressing her he had been addressing himself.

"No… you're not hurting her," Donatello then said with the soft voice.

"Ah you have ruined everything," he snapped and forcefully rose up from the couch, prompting April to back away. The turtle was glaring at her, but then his expression softened and almost became frightful.

"No… stop!" he said.

"Donatello what is wrong with you," April asked frightened at the sudden change in the turtle's behavior.

"Looks like he's becoming nuts," a familiar voice said. The woman turned and was shocked to see the turtle behind her wearing the black clothes and strange gear.

"Leo?" she asked but the grin he was sporting didn't quite ease her mind.

"Not quite," he said and slapped the woman so she flew to the ground. "Get out of my way bitch, I need to calm nutso here down."

"NO!" Donatello shouted with the soft voice when the assassin hit the woman. However, Leonardo worked fast; he grabbed from his belt a small dart gun and quickly shot a dart that embedded itself in the turtle's throat. It knocked the emperor out instantly.

"Don't move." Leonardo pulled out another gun and pointed it at April who had been trying to rise up.

"What, what is going on here?" she asked startled. The assassin pointed the dart gun at her.

"This," he said and shot a dart that also sent April sleeping. Shaking his head the turtle walked to the emperor and knelt beside him. Out of a pouch, he produced a vial full of yellow liquid and a syringe. Leonardo injected the contents of the vial into Donatello.

"You are lucky that I know you 'your highness' and know about the little voices in your head or you would be in big trouble right now," the assassin growled, he walked to April and grabbed straps that hung on his belt and tied the woman up. He also gagged her with a cloth.

Few minutes later there was a groan as Donatello woke up, he slowly rose up from the floor and the first thing he noticed was Leonardo sitting in the chair. April was still out, tied up on the floor.

"Nice outfit," the emperor grunted rubbing his head. "Wait, the two idiots are gone…"

"I had some of your formula handy, just in case you would go off the deep end. Looks like it was a good thing, you were going completely nuts here," the assassin snarled then he indicated to the woman. "I'm afraid the turtle is out of its shell where she is concerned."

"Terrific. You know, everything was going nicely before you showed up," the emperor snorted and sat down on the couch, completely forgetting or refusing to accept it that he himself had almost ruined his own plans. Leonardo only gave him a glance and a smirk, clearly indicating he couldn't care less about Donatello's plans.

"What's with the gear," the overlord asked when fully noticing the clothes the other turtle wore.

"I went to check on this world's Leonardo, I decided to go on a training run in my business suit. I was on my way back when I took a detour to see how you were doing here. It was a good thing you told me where you were going, who knows what you would have done if I hadn't used the knockout dart on you," the assassin explained. "Don't let it happen again, I'm not here to babysit you."

"Looks like I'm going to have to fast forward what I was going to do," the emperor groaned and stood up. The assassin did so likewise.

"I used a longer affecting knock out dart on the bitch, I can take her to my hideout for now," he said while picking unconscious April up.

"I'll need to improvise on some things, I needed her to buy for me equipment," Donatello growled though he was more talking to himself.

"Well you shouldn't have gone nuts then now," Leonardo snapped back. At that moment the window broke as a turtle burst through.

"So," Raphael snarled as he rose up twirling his twin sai. "I'm not just dealing with fake Donatello; I'm dealing with fake 'fearless leader' as well."

 **End chapter 8**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 25/12 2005

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

 **2k3 TMNT-world**

"I knew you were an idiot Raphael but this is ridiculous," Emperor Donatello snorted.

"Yeah? Well don't tell me that the remote has a range all the way from here to the lair does it?" Raph growled, he was taking a risk and he knew it.

"You want to bet? I am not an amateur like your brother." The emperor reached for the remote on the belt but the assassin raised a hand in signal for him to stop. He was smiling wide.

"Come now Donatello, didn't I say I was going to keep him off your shell?" he said before facing Raphael. The ninja sneered and prepared for battle.

Leonardo wasted no words; he swiftly drew the single katana and leaped at a surprising speed towards the red-clad turtle. Raph barely had time to block the blow with his sai before the assassin kicked him so hard that he flew off the ground and collided with the wall behind him.

 _Ow that hurt, this guy is fast._ Raphael jumped up, the assassin lifted the katana above his head crouched slightly and gave the ninja a signal to come.

"I'm going to tear you into pieces!" the hotheaded turtle rushed forward preparing to strike. Leonardo leaped into the air, curled into a ball while going over Raph, landed behind him and kicked him hard in the shell. Raphael was sent on a collision course with the couch, the emperor barely had time to duck out of the way.

 _Ok, this guy is good._ Raph stood up off the crashed furniture unsteadily. He tried to go into battle position again but the assassin was already in the air and kicked the turtle hard on the plastron. Raphael was flung further into the room and landed harshly on the floor.

"They don't call me the greatest assassin and bounty hunter for nothing." Leo smirked and sheathed his katana. He drew up the dart gun and aimed it at Raphael who was again rising.

"Ah!" Raph felt the prick of a needle when the dart landed on his shoulder. He looked at it and then at the smirking double of his brother.

"Oh that's it, you're dead," he said before falling unconscious back to the floor.

"Great, you are lucky I'm on the blasted truck of theirs or you would be carrying both him and the woman to the lair," Donatello snapped. "On your own."

"Now, now, 'your highness', you are sounding too much like a cartoon villain right now," the assassin said still smirking but the emperor was not amused.

"Just bring that ill tempered brainless idiot down and into the truck, I'll handle the woman then you can help me load the truck with the boxes that should be downstairs," the overlord snarled having lost all control over his temper. Leonardo did a mock bow before grabbing Raphael in a fireman carry and left the apartment.

 _I wasn't going to even start for several more days, but thanks to this idiot and the ones in my head I have to start earlier._ Donatello picked up April from the floor, holding her in his arms he gently stroke her hair. _And I was going to have so much fun manipulating her. Ah well guess it's back to fear and intimidation instead._

He carried her out of the apartment and downstairs, the assassin was already beginning to lift a box and carrying it out the back where the Battle-Shell was parked in an alley.

"Careful with that, it's fragile," he snapped before carrying April out of the building and climbed with her into the vehicle. He was carefully laying her down when he felt the point of a katana at the back of his neck.

"I am not your grunt or any other lackey you can order around. I'm only helping you because of our agreement, I have so far kept my half and right now it's you who owe me for my service. I suggest you do not forget that, I am not a very nice debt collector," Leonardo hissed with an ice-cold voice.

"All right, all right, I'm just a little frustrated. I wasn't exactly planning on being this far ahead already," the emperor said, the katana was removed. The assassin sheathed the katana but stared down at the other turtle with a hateful scowl.

"Just keep your end, trust me, you don't want me to get frustrated." He warned and jumped out of the van to get more boxes.

 _What I wouldn't give to have my cyborg here, he would teach you some proper manners._ Donatello made sure that April was still unconscious before leaving the truck as well to fetch the boxes.

* * *

It took her a while but eventually the woman's rebellious eyelids relented and April woke up although very groggily. She felt unable to move, her hands and feet were tied up.

"Wha… what's going… Donatello?" she woke up completely when seeing the emperor working on something at a table. She recognized Donatello's station in the lair. She was rested in one corner of it.

"Not quite, well at least not the Donatello you think I am." The turtle stood up from his seat and turned towards the woman with indifference in his face. He wasn't wearing his mask or any of the battle gear for the matter.

"What?" the woman was naturally confused; the emperor smirked and put one hand on his naturally armored chest.

"I am actually Emperor Donatello, supreme ruler of Turtotopia, a superpower from another world, another reality. I, in what would best be described as freak accident, switched places with this world's Donatello. He's in my world now doing whatever, don't care as I have decided I like this place and I think I'm just going to establish a 'New Turtotopia'," he explained with a self-satisfied smile. April's brow wrinkled and she sneered in disgust.

"I wasn't going to start this early. The events at your apartment were not planned but certain turns of events forced me to start on some parts of my plans now." The emperor glared towards the upper level of the lair. "MIKEY!"

 _Oh my god._ April was startled to see the orange-clad turtle walk into view on the upper platform. There was a strange glint in his eyes and even stranger grin plastered on his face. Not his usual goofy one. The turtle dropped down in a single leap and approached the workstation.

"Yeah boss?" he said in an uncharacteristic voice, it was like there was nothing behind it.

"Is your brother tied to the table?" Donatello picked up the gadget he had been working on earlier and began examining it.

"Sure is, strapped down like a little pig." Mikey gave thumbs up. The emperor nodded in approval.

 _Table?_ April tried to look around but didn't see anything.

"Good, go tell our associate that I wish to speak with him," he ordered. Michelangelo simply nodded and left.

"That… that couldn't…." April stammered startled, the emperor turned to her again.

"Oh yes that is your Michelangelo, he is just under mind control." Donatello now grinned wide tapping a finger on his temple. "Mind control devices were one of my first complicated devices I built on my own. I have become so good at it that I can make them now with a simple computer chip that can be dragged out of any computer."

"How can you…"

"Because I'm letting the humans pay," Donatello snapped before April could finish her sentence, he approached with an angry scowl. "That's what you were going to ask, weren't you? How can I do this? Why all this? Well let me put it into simple words. The humans are going to PAY for what they did to me, they are going to wish they NEVER created me in that fucking lab and they are going to PAY for torturing me for just being curious."

"You don't have to shout," she whispered, the turtle was glaring down at her.

"I have been good with technology and just about anything that is related to tinkering around since the day I was mutated. I was curious from day one. I broke out of my cage daily just to snoop around. I meant no harm and always intended to return, but the guards used tasers to knock me unconscious. Even when I was down, one of them kept electrocuting me. Then threw me into my cage and I was lucky to get food for a week! Well humans are no longer my masters, now I am the master," the emperor snarled, some spit sprayed over the woman.

"But this world didn't…"

"I don't care," the emperor snapped glowering angrily. "Humans are humans but death is too good for them, instead I'll change them. I already did it on my world and I will do it to this one as well."

"Not to put a damper on your tirade," said the chilly voice of the assassin where he stood now in the works station with arms folded. "But you wanted to talk with me?"

"I did," Donatello growled, turning away from April who sighed in relief. She had almost feared the turtle would hit her or something. "You said you were keeping your double somewhere?"

"Yeah, what of it," Leonardo grunted and began to examine his black gloved right hand with an expression that clearly indicated he had no interest being where he was.

"Where?" the emperor asked.

"In another dimension, you really think I would allow him to possibly escape in the same world I am in?" The assassin raised his hands and shrugged. Donatello cocked an eye ridge.

"What? It has happened before," Leonardo stated as if it was the most obvious thing.

"I don't want to know," the evil overlord said quietly. "But you have already answered what I was concerned about. If there was any risk of him appearing after escaping from wherever you were keeping him."

"I tend to be careful with my prisoners." The assassin smirked and drew up the calculator looking device from his belt. "But I can go double check on him if you want. He probably wants to hear a status report anyway. I love it when my doubles throw a fit."

"Uh, ok just go." Donatello decided he was not going to try to understand this person any longer. One moment he was all chilly and lethal and the next he was almost behaving like a goof.

"I'll just be a moment." Leonardo started to tap in a code on the device and then pressed a button, a dark portal opened and the assassin leaped through. The gateway closed instantly after him.

"Where the hell did he get a device like that?" the emperor wondered.

* * *

 **Somewhere**

"Hello Leonardo, miss me?" The assassin approached the chained turtle who had given up for the tenth time to break his bonds.

"Can't say I did," Leo retorted and glared at the smirking turtle in front of him.

Leonardo knelt in front of his prisoner and with his right hand roughly grabbed under Leo's chin and jaw, the turtle tried to break free from the grip but the assassin proved very strong.

"I'm just here to tell you that your little world will soon start falling apart. Already one of your brothers has been brought under mind control and is now a servant of your brother's double and your other brother, what's his name, wears a red bandanna… Raphael yes, he is on his way to be a test subject. Your sensei rat is also going to be tested for something, I don't know what. Don't care really. Leonardo smiled wider when Leo began growling in anger and tried once more to struggle from both the iron grip and the steel bonds on his hands.

"How does the old saying go, 'it's the end of the world as I know it, and I feel just fine'." The assassin chuckled finally letting go of Leo who accidentally was flung back since he was still struggling and knocked his head against the wall behind him.

"You better hope I don't get free from these bonds," Leo whispered feeling disoriented after ramming his head into the stone.

"Hm, never heard that one before," his double said sarcastically and stood up. Leo managed to get back to his knees but was still feeling jaded after the hit so he didn't attempt to stand up. His head was bowed as it felt heavy. He probably had a mild concussion.

He froze when a gloved finger stroke gently the edge of his carapace. The turtle violently jerked back and sat now up against the wall staring almost shocked at the black clad assassin.

"Your carapace is in perfect shape and health, considering your living condition impressed." The hint of admiration in his voice didn't make Leo feel better, since the eyes had a very strange glint. Then it disappeared and it was almost as if the assassin was suddenly remembering something.

"Well I better get going I wasn't going to be here long." His counterpart turned around and disappeared into the darkness. Leo let go of his breath, not having realized he was holding it.

"This guy is seriously starting to freak me out," he said. "And he's technically me by the looks of it."

* * *

 **2k3 TMNT World**

"Well he knows now his world is screwed," the assassin commented as he stepped out of the portal.

"Nice," the emperor grunted, he was once more working on something at the table.

"Speaking of prisoners, where is Raphael?" Leonardo looked around. April was still tied up in one corner, glaring daggers at the two off-world turtles.

"Unlike you, Mikey and I aren't loitering around. I changed the kitchen into a temporary lab, Raph is strapped to a table there," the overlord told him.

"I'm sorry I asked," the assassin said sarcastically and left the workstation.

"What are you looking at?" He noticed where Mikey stood nearby. The mind-controlled ninja just had his strange grin on the face and watched the black wearing turtle go past.

Leonardo walked all the way to the kitchen. A table had been installed there and strapped on it was Raphael, still unconscious.

"Hm, it's been twenty four hours since I darted him, he should be waking up any moment now." The assassin pretended to look at a watch on his wrist and then eyed the formerly red wearing turtle; all gear had been removed from him.

"Huh wha?" Raph started to wake up. Once feeling he was tied down he instantly tried to break free.

"What is going on here," Raphael growled while struggling against his bonds. When seeing the assassin he just got angrier and tried even harder to break free.

"You are just going to hurt your wrists and ankles you know," Leonardo remarked. Raph stopped for a moment and then spotted where Mike stood watching the events. The orange-clad turtle had followed the black wearing one.

"Mikey!" he called out but the assassin just shook his head.

"Don't bother, 'his highness' has him under mind control," he explained. The hot-tempered turtle froze at hearing that. Leonardo shifted slightly so he could see Mikey too but then looked back at Raph. "I don't know though, I kind a liked him better before."

"Who are you guys?" Raphael snarled. "And what do you think you are DOING?"

"These introductions are getting kind of hectic," Leonardo yawned. "Ok, I'll be brief. Your brother Donatello was switched by an evil duplicate of himself who plans on taking over this world. I am a duplicate of your brother who has been here on your world for over a month studying you and your brothers. I recently switched with your brother after Emperor Donatello took out your rat sensei. I personally am just on my usual training course and that wacko emperor is currently…"

"What did you do to April?" Raph growled when he remembered that the fight had occurred in her building.

"Nothing, she's tied up in the workspace, but other than that nothing," the assassin shrugged.

"If you hurt her…" Raph snarled now trashing on the bench violently. The assassin just had one hand under his cheek, supporting it with the other hand staring unimpressed at the hot-tempered ninja.

"I always wonder why you hero types make those threats when you are in no position to really make them," he said. Raphael tried one final time but was forced to give up, he had to admit the bonds were simply too strong.

"How long have I been out?" he asked wheezing after his struggles.

"A day, we used the opportunity to re decorate the lair a little, personally I think this table clashes with the rest of the kitchen. Oh well I'm not staying here for much longer, maybe a day or two more. I think I'll keep your brother, I kind of like him." The assassin turned around and prepared to leave.

"Wait what?" Raph raised his head to look at the black clad turtle.

"Oh didn't I tell you? Your brother Leonardo is my prisoner, that's how I could switch with him. He's nice and healthy, I think I'll keep him like I said," Leonardo turned his head and was grinning evilly. "You know I wonder how your other brother, Donatello, is doing. I'm not sure he will be returning home any time soon."

"What the shell kind of a sick twisted maniac are you?" Raphael snarled. The assassin turned towards him.

"Whaaaat? I'm not the one trying to conquer this world. I'm just your regular assassin and bounty hunter, well ok not exactly regular." Leonardo shrugged carelessly and walked over to where the couch and the TVs were.

 **End chapter 9**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 27/12 2005

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

 **Turtotopia**

"So he put a chip in here and it is programmed to zap you if you resist him?" Donatello felt the large pit in his stomach again. He was learning more about his evil double than he ever wanted to know. Sitting beside him was this world's April. She was finally convinced that the olive green turtle that looked like the emperor was not the emperor. What had mostly convinced her was that her slap had not caused anything to happen. She hadn't been punished or anything.

"Yes." The woman nodded patting her left temple where she had shown him a scar underneath her hair. "He doesn't like resistance of any kind."

"He's going to need to worry about more than resistance when I get my hands on him," Cyborg Raphael growled as he approached holding the black clothes Donatello had woken up in when he arrived in this world. "I'm afraid you need to dress up."

"Oh great, they really need a speech from me because his troops managed to quell the rebellion?" Don asked and Raphael nodded.

"I'm afraid so and we can't arouse suspicions. Not everybody is working for the emperor unwillingly." The cyborg warned and handed Donatello the clothes. He slowly began to dress up. "And people will expect you to gleefully rub the fact into their faces that the rebellion has been squashed."

"Great and I was kind of hoping that I would be out of here before anything like this would happen," the ninja grunted while dressing into the shirt again.

"Don't worry, I have written a speech for you and had it with everything they will be expecting to hear," Raphael said.

"You'll do fine." Leo patted the now black wearing turtle reassuringly on the shoulder.

"And you don't even have to leave the room. Your image will be portrayed on large screens in most major public areas of the country and of course in all televisions. All you have to do is sit here." Raphael guided Don to a chair the cyborg had brought in; behind it was a purple flag with black version of the emblem.

"And the camera will show you to the world." Leonardo began setting up what looked like camera equipment. Raphael handed the black wearing turtle one piece of paper.

"He doesn't like long speeches," Raphael shrugged when Don looked at him while pointing at the paper with a 'that's it?' expression.

"Raph, I need you connect these things," the oldest turtle called from the equipment.

"Figures, even when I'm not under mind control I have to do all the work here." Raphael sighed and turned to the cameras and his older brother.

"Let's just get this over with," Don said between his teeth while reading the speech, memorizing it although vowing in-between to eject it out of his memory as soon as he could.

"Hey cheer up, the parts will arrive today, if we are lucky we will be removing the emperor from your world by tonight," the mechanical turtle said while using the tiny robot arms in his left hand to connect the camera.

 _I somehow doubt it will be that easy._ Donatello straightened up and got ready to read the speech. Leonardo operated the camera and Raphael the controls.

"Greetings fellow citizens of the glorious empire of Turtotopia," Don began as Leo gave him the signal to begin.

"I am pleased to be talking to you tonight to announce that the terrorists that threatened the safety of our beloved nation, led by the criminal Arnold Casey Jones, have been completely neutralized. Yesterday our strong troops under the direct control of General Murrow annihilated their last stronghold. Among the dead was the hateful terrorist leader. We will be celebrating this victory in two days time in every major city of our nation. I bid you good night. Your Emperor and Supreme Overlord, Donatello."

"And that's it." Raphael turned everything off then looked at Don who was rubbing his forehead. "You did well, you gave me chills with that voice."

"I was trying to sound evil, glad you liked it," Donatello grunted and crumbled the speech into a ball. "I better get off tonight because I am not doing that again."

"Hey just be glad he isn't much for glamour or you would have had a longer speech reciting how great and glorious Turtotopia is," Leonardo mentioned grinning. Don threw the ball away and stood up. He instantly began undressing and threw the clothes away.

"And how the shell can he wear that thing," he said before walking to the transpad, April was already working on the computer console.

"That one of those mysteries you will never know," the cyborg said and began walking towards the exit "I'll go to the storage and see if the parts have arrived."

"Leonardo and I will begin opening the platform for the power pack," Don said kneeling down. "April how does the programming go."

"The modifications you already did have stabilized the transportation program. The glitch is still there but it has to be so you can transport back to your world. But I'm afraid it only needs a small distortion to get disrupted," the woman said. Donatello looked up, slightly surprised.

"Raphael wasn't kidding when he said you had a good technological mind," he said with a grin.

"Before Turtotopia I used to work in a big science institute. I was one of the leading scientists in the field of energy transportation. How do you think the emperor got the transpad?" April looked at him smiling uneasy. "From my mind."

"You mean he had Raphael do the mind download on you too?" Don gulped when she nodded and rubbed his beak. "I know the feeling."

The two turtles continued to open the platform but after a minute, Leonardo looked up from his work and at April who had suddenly stopped working on the computer. Since Raphael had finally convinced her yesterday the woman had for the most part behaved rather normally, but now suddenly she looked to have dropped back.

The oldest turtle stood up and approached the woman being careful not to corner her at the console. "Is something wrong?"

"I was just thinking." her voice was again the quiet whispering one, the hopelessness was back in her eyes. "If he comes back…"

"He won't," Leo stated and resisted the urge to put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly, he wasn't sure how she would react and didn't want to find out. "At least not as emperor, he will be punished for his crimes."

"How do you know?" she asked looking at the turtle, they were exactly the same size. Leonardo tried to smile.

"Raphael is no longer under his control and he is going over to the other world to apprehend him, Donatello is no match to a cyborg who happens to hate him. He also thinks I am a nervous wreck with no willpower; he will be in for a surprise when I arrive as well. We are going to overthrow our brother, he will not touch you anymore," he said as convincingly as he could.

"You are his brother?" April raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought just…"

"Not many know I exist, everybody thinks Donatello and Raphael are the first original mutants. I am actually the first original mutant," Leo said and began to look around for chairs. "Here sit down, let me tell you a story. It might take your minds off things."

"Many years ago the military apprehended alien technology when busting into a company called TCRI and discovered it was actually an alien cover up base," Leo started his story once both him and April were seated. He paused briefly to look where Donatello was still working on the platform. "Uh, do you want to hear this too?"

"HEY!" Leo raised his voice when Don didn't answer; the younger turtle almost jumped his height.

"What? Huh? Something wrong?" Donatello looked at them confused. He had missed everything said as usually happened when absorbed into his work.

"You want to hear my origin story, I was just beginning?" Leonardo couldn't help himself and smiled wide, this had reminded him so much of the Donatello he used to know and care for.

"Oh, just talk, I'll listen." Donatello then continued to work on the platform.

"Eh ok, anyway the technology was all transported to top secret laboratories. Parts of it were containers of glowing green ooze of some short. The ooze was tested for months without the scientists ever figuring out what it did. They found out like many big discoveries, by accident," Leo continued.

"I was one of the test animals for other alien products, but so far nothing had been done to me yet. I was an already adult turtle; or at least young adult when one canister of the ooze was accidentally dropped into the tank where I lived and of course I was bathed in it. My memory is a bit fuzzy from there to the next day, but I remember being picked up and cleaned and put in a cage used for detention just in case. Next day both the scientist and I woke up to a surprise," the turtle began examining his hands, he frowned slightly as some unwanted memories rose but Leo quickly shook them off.

"I mutated into what I look like today, luckily the cage I was in had been big enough for me but just barely. I was just as surprised as the scientists, I suddenly understood them perfectly, I could walk like them and most surprising of all I could talk."

"So you mutated into your full adult form?" April inquired.

"Yes, because I was already adult albeit still young. I was immediately moved to a bigger cage. Most of the scientist weren't quite ready to look at me as anything but a mere animal except for two. A woman named Angela and a man named Ted. I was quick learner; Angela and Ted taught me how to read and write and I gained my knowledge from them as I was tested for everything regarding intelligence. Some of the scientist, especially Angela, actually began to wonder if it was even ethical to keep me as I had clearly become 'sentient' as they put it."

"But the higher ups didn't agree and I continued to live in the cage. I got a companion about a month after my mutation, they had tried again on another turtle, slightly younger than me and that's how Raphael was born. The scientist of course were no biologists, as they had thought he was a female and were doing me a favor," Leo stopped as he couldn't help chuckling, so did April. "Boy were they surprised when he began speaking with his deep rough voice."

"So Raph and I began learning together and were tested together. Ted dubbed me Leonardo. He idolized Leonardo Da Vinci. Angela on the other hand named Raphael after the archangel; she viewed him as being such an angel. Raphael was always nice to her and cooperative, she didn't believe anything bad on him. Raph on the other hand refused to cooperate with the others and even did pranks on them mercilessly, he was especially after Ted but Ted always took it in strides."

"Another month passed and we were given another surprise so to speak. Raphael and I were in a joint cage although the two halves could be closed off to separate us if necessary, but in a small cage nearby in the lab we lived in had arrived yet another mutant. This time he wasn't an adult, it was a baby turtle, a child no more than six years old. It was Donatello, they had this time decided to mutate a younger turtle, they thought Raphael and I might be too old for some of the experiments."

"He was named Donatello to stay in the naming trend, although Raphael was named after the angel, there is also the artist Raphael. Even young Donatello portrayed the intelligence he has today. He was very curious, too curious for his own good," Leo halted now, April saw he becoming uncomfortable. He had arrived at a very difficult part in his story.

"Donatello constantly escaped his cage. Raphael and I couldn't for the life of us figure out how to open the lock from our side of the cage, but Donatello always could. He always was snooping around the lab and he was caught every single time. First it was usually just Angela or Ted, who mildly scolded him and put him back into the cage. Then the military began tightening the security, apparently, these tests were becoming expensive and they wanted to make sure nothing went wrong. That's when the security guards began discovering that Donatello would break out of his cage to explore around."

"That's when things went downhill, especially for Donatello. The security guards didn't scold him if they found him outside the cage, they beat him and if they had tasers they electrocuted him mercilessly," Leo stopped for a moment to try and slow down his breathing as it had becoming rapid, he closed his eyes and managed to contain his rising anger. "One guard was especially sadistic. If he ever caught Donatello he would electrocute him to unconsciousness and continue, then beat him up and throw him harshly back into the cage."

"Donatello was starved each time he broke out after the military took charge of the security. Angela, Ted, and many of the other scientist did try to protect him but they were not in charge. The security guards were military personnel and the military only viewed us as beasts, didn't even believe we were as intelligent as had been discovered."

"One day though Raphael had enough, he always tried to break out of our cage each time Donatello was tortured to try and save him. That day the sadistic guard was especially rough. He probably would have ended up killing him. Raph completely lost it, ripped the door on our cage off its hinges and flew out of it. He crushed the guard's skull with his bare hands. I realized then if the military viewed us as beasts, then Raphael would surely be executed without remorse for killing a human being. I left my cage and told Raphael who had picked up unconscious Donatello that we were leaving."

"Of course it wasn't easy and we probably would have failed if it wasn't for the Angela. She showed us a way out through some underground tunnels. Apparently, the military thought they were so well hidden that security was minimal there. Angela was relieved that we were trying to escape; she had fought the hardest for our release stating that we were just as intelligent as human beings and actually should be viewed as equals. Before we left though she asked us to take care of something, she disappeared into another lab and brought out something wrapped in a blanket."

"It was yet another baby turtle but this time he was even younger than Donatello, she said his name was Michelangelo and he was recently mutated. I was handed the child and then we made our escape." Leo stopped his story and looked at his audiences, both Don and April were staring at him eyes wide open and attentive.

"There was a big although secret search for us for months, we escaped to former New York City and at first lived in an old sewer line with few closed off tunnels. We later moved to an old abandoned subway station deeper under the city. Raphael and I took care of the two boys the best we could, even though we weren't blood related we looked at each other as brothers," he finished.

"Interesting," Don said. Leonardo looked at him again. "So he was tortured there and later on began developing temper and you said seemed to switch between personalities. I think it's possible he developed a…"

"Good news," a canned voice interrupted them as Raphael came walking, in his metal arms the cyborg held a large crate. "The parts are here; let's get this show on a road."

 **End chapter 10**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 28/12 2005

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

 **2k3 TMNT-world**

 _He was running. He hated running away but had no choice. Something was chasing him, hunting him like an animal._

 _The bullet barely missed as he managed to dodge, he leapt over the building and continued to run as he landed on the rooftop. He was about to leap over to the next building when a lasso ensnared his right foot and the one holding the rope pulled hard sending him crashing to the ground._

 _"Going somewhere," a snickering voice said as he was dragged over the roof. He managed to turn and saw a shape that was pulling the rope, forcing him closer._

 _"Ah the great Raphael, running around like a headless chicken, scared like a little mouse." the voice, it sounded like Leo's. Once the rope forced him closer he saw the turtle holding it, looking just like his brother, but something wasn't right. This wasn't Leo, it was the other one._

 _Suddenly he was hanging upside down. He had been strung up. The black masked turtle who called himself an assassin walked closer smiling madly._

 _"Your world is coming to an end, your brothers cannot help you, your friends are not at your disposal, your father is out of your reach. You are helpless Raphael, helpless like a headless chicken." The Leo look alike laughed._

 _Raphael wanted to growl, he wanted to lash out but he couldn't. An alien feeling flowed over him. He was scared and was shivering. He had no hands. The fiend in front of him had cut them off earlier and then sent him on the run. He was crying._

 _"Time to die Raphael, I hate to see my bounty suffer for too long." the assassin pulled out his single katana and raised it. The stroke never fell; the dark sky was filled with bright soft light._

 _"My son!" a familiar voice._

 _"Master… Splinter?" Raphael tried to glance around._

 _"Raphael, I am reaching out to you through our slumber. I cannot awake due to the drug given to me." his voice became clearer. Suddenly all he saw was the image of his sensei. He was smiling proudly._

 _"Keep up your struggle my son, you have not failed, do not give up hope, help is on its way. Donatello and Leonardo are near, I have tried to contact them but failed as they are not in our world and my spirit is weak in my current state." His voice began to fade._

 _"Master Splinter." he tried to reach out._

"Master Splinter!" Raphael shouted as he woke up, momentarily forgetting being strapped and tried to rise up. His head slunk back to the metal table as a harsh reminder.

"Going somewhere?" the emperor asked, turning away from the former kitchen counter and to the bench.

"You!" Raph snarled and began struggling against his bonds. "I should have snapped your neck when I had the chance."

"Really now." Donatello didn't sound impressed. "And when exactly was that? The only time when you really had a reason to kill me would have killed your brother and eventually your father."

 _Forgot about that._ Raph was silent but sent the impostor a dagger glare.

"Now then, originally I wasn't going to do any of this so early but thanks to unfortunate circumstances, I have to begin earlier on some of my work than I intended. For instance I think I'll need you to test some of my new equipment." Donatello rubbed his hands together and approached the table. "Oh and have you met my new assistant. Oh Mikey, your brother wants to see you."

Raph eyed to his right to see his orange-clad brother approach, he still was sporting the strange grin and glint in his eyes.

"Mikey?" Raph said. The other turtle leaned over him grinning wider.

"Hi Raph," he greeted with his new mostly empty voice.

"What have you done to him?" Raphael glared at the emperor who folded his arms smiling smugly.

"Oh nothing, you remember the chip I crafted into him that could fry his brain. Did I forget to mention that it also doubles as a mind control chip," he said casually. Raph turned his head back to his brother who still leaned over him staring the hot-tempered turtle right in the eyes.

"You look a little tied up Raph," Mikey said laughing.

"Mikey, you can fight this, try to fight this." Raph hoped his brother, the one behind the controlled body could hear him.

"Oh believe me he probably is," the emperor said. "You see, even though I have him under my control, he still has independent thought and self awareness. He will remember everything he did while under the mind control, but my chip overrules any action he wants to make or anything he wants to say. The chip forces him to obey."

"Mikey listen to me, fight the control you can do it." Raph ignored Donatello focusing his attention on Mike.

"How cute, but I'm afraid my voice is stronger," the emperor said looking at Michelangelo. "Mikey, I believe your brother often slaps you on the head when you say something you thought was funny. Why don't you return the favor? Hit him."

"Mikey." Raph watched as his brother stood upright and then raised his left hand. It came crushing down hard on his beak.

"Again," the overlord ordered. Raph grimaced once the hand landed on him again.

"Mikey fight, fight the control!" Raphael called out but his brother's hand landed on him the third time.

"S…sorry… R..R…Raph… can't….co…cont…control…" Mikey's usual voice broke through as his hand rose for the fourth time. For a brief moment there was a very guilty look on his face before it reverted back to the strange grin.

This hadn't escaped the attention of the evil overlord. He picked up a remote from the pocket of the lab coat he was now wearing and pressed a button. Raph watched in horror as Mikey suddenly screamed in pain and fell to his knees clutching his head with both hands.

"Stop you son of a bitch," Raphael snarled, Mikey lay on the floor screaming in agony.

"Just reinforcing control, the chip is a bit primitive since I didn't have all the right equipment to make it, but it does its work," Donatello said and pressed the button again. Mike stopped screaming and stood up like nothing had happened, but this time his expression was more distant.

"You two mind? I'm trying to watch something here," the assassin called from the couch. He was watching what looked like an action movie and had all the TVs on.

"You have already met my associate," the emperor snorted glaring at the couch that was visible from the kitchen and then rolled his eyes.

"Whatever your plans are…"

"Oh come on, you are strapped to a table, two of your brothers are stuck in another world, your third one is under my direct control, your father is unconscious and unless I'm missing something I don't see how you are going to be stopping me." Donatello cut Raphael short but smiled. The hot-tempered turtle just growled.

"As for any of your friends, I have already checked. Your friend Casey Jones is currently out of town and you aren't expecting him back until next week, it will be too late for him to do anything by then." The emperor turned away and walked to the counter, from there he picked up a syringe filled with blue liquid.

"As for April, she's too tied up at the moment… I can't believe I worded it like that," Donatello grunted and returned to the bench. Raph was fuming but remained silent. Mentally he was strangling the other turtle. "Ready for your first test?"

Raphael tried to struggle against it but the emperor was stronger than he had thought. The evil overlord grabbed his moving arm, jammed the syringe into it and injected the liquid into his body.

"It will take a minute to take effect according to my calculations; this is a chemical I have been working on for some time. I have been testing it on my Leonardo, it short of forces you see certain events in your life that you are uncomfortable with. It also plays a trick, it makes it look much worse than it actually was," he explained.

"Of course it would be much more effective with my thought process analyzer but I have to use what I have since I'm a bit early." Donatello sighed and then noticed that Raphael's breathing was starting to accelerate. The emperor picked up a clipboard that hung on the table and started to jot down notes on it.

"Now, unlike the thought process analyzer who does everything automatically, I have to tell your brain to remember a shameful moment for the chemical to work." Donatello looked around thoughtful and his eyes stopped on Mikey who still stood by the table, staring expressionless into air.

"Mikey, of course. What have you done to Mikey that you are dreadfully ashamed off." He looked at the strapped turtle who was staring wide eyed back.

"No… no… I didn't mean too… I just lost it… I was angry." Raph realized he had no control over his mouth or his thoughts.

"You are always angry; you have a very short temper. Mikey, what did he do to you?" Donatello addressed the orange clad turtle. It was like hitting a play button on a tape recorder.

"We were sparring and I got the upper hand, I started to tease him a bit to work him up and make him do more mistakes making it easier for me to beat him. I finally managed to throw him away so he landed and broke a table. He lost it, grabbed a pipe jumped and kicked me to the floor; he prepared to beat me with it. Leonardo stopped him," was his automatic response.

"No… I wasn't… I didn't… NO!" Raph started trash around as this particular event of the past came soaring through his thoughts.

"Hm, looks like it works," Donatello nodded pleased.

"I finally give myself some time to watch a movie and there is no peace." The assassin stood up grunting and grabbed for his strange calculator device. He was gone through the portal almost as soon as it had formed.

* * *

 **Somewhere**

 _Oh great._ Leo glanced up when he saw that his double had returned.

"Scientists are annoying Leo, really annoying," the assassin addressed his prisoner as he walked past him.

 _Like I care._ Leo was trying to meditate; he had felt the presence of his master and was hoping he could establish contact. Suddenly he felt the bonds restraining his hands come off.

"What?" the turtle could now stare at his free hands and then looked up, the assassin was handing him his gear, blue mask, katana swords and everything.

"Since I can't watch my movie I'm just going to train instead. Guess what, you're the training dummy." Leonardo threw the gear down in front of him and then back-flipped further away.

"I think you are going to regret this." Leo felt a slight hope return as he tied on the mask and put on rest of his gear. He slowly stood up; the assassin watched his every move.

"I doubt it," Leonardo smiled and drew up his single black handled katana. Leo drew up both of his blue.

The assassin crouched slightly and then gave his counterpart a signal to come. The blue masked turtle didn't hesitate and leaped into air preparing to attack with his swords.

His double blocked it with his sword, swept Leo's feet from under him and jumped over the turtle landing on the other side. The ninja quickly rose up again and attacked, for a moment they simply fenced, blocking each other's swings.

 _He is good,_ Leo thought when the assassin almost managed to cut his arm. He had just barely time to jerk himself out of the way. His counterpart started to move at more accelerated pace, now the blue clad turtle could do little but block the fierce blows and swings. _Maybe too good._

Suddenly the assassin did a move Leo had no idea what was, it hardly registered on his eyes. The katana flew towards him and before the ninja knew it, he was disarmed and with a sword point at his neck, just barely touching his Adams apple.

"What the shell was that?" Leo had only barely seen his opponent twist his right wrist that held the sword slightly before the black clad turtle had effectively removed the swords from his hands.

"It's called Ka'hjaka, it's an alien martial arts move. You see I travel between worlds for my job, not just countries thanks to this." The assassin picked up his calculator looking device but never removed the sword from Leo's neck.

"It's called a dimension traveler and it can travel to whatever dimension I like, and throughout my travels I have picked up skills a bit alien for you I suppose," Leonardo laughed and removed the katana and backed away. He allowed his prisoner to pick up his weapons. The assassin put the traveler back on his belt.

"So you might not want to try and escape from this place, you are not in your world," he added just as he launched forward forcing Leo to begin blocking and backing away.

Finally tired of being on the defensive the blue clad turtle suddenly crouched and tried sweep his opponent off his feet. The assassin saw it coming and jumped and slashed down with his sword, Leo just managed to block it with his swords.

"I have to admit Leo; you are the best training dummy I have had so far. My other doubles never fought as well as you do," his counterpart said as he punched Leo hard in the plastron. The turtle was thrown back and crash-landed on his back.

"I would be flattered if I wasn't a prisoner here," Leo grunted as he started to rise but just at that moment the assassin came flying and his right foot made a hard contact with the blue clad ninja's chest.

Leo fell back and his head was knocked up against the stone floor. Again a sword point was at his neck and the assassin had one foot firmly planted on his plastron.

"You don't have to be a prisoner." The counterpart's smile was friendly suddenly. "You could be my assistant, I could show you worlds your imagination couldn't think of and I could teach you skills that rival any ninjitsu moves."

"Right, and I should join you why?" Leo dared asking, the sword point came uncomfortably closer.

"Because your world is doomed Leonardo and besides I will simply keep you here as my personal training dummy otherwise." the assassin shrugged, but he couldn't continue, bright light filled the room and further inside two shapes started to form.

"Wait… this isn't right." A very familiar voice reached Leo's ears and he smiled.

* * *

 **Turtotopia**

"I can't believe we have been booted off," April sat crossed legged with arms folded and watched Donatello and Raphael work on the platform.

"I can understand me, last time I tried to fix an electronic it blew into my face." Leonardo sighed sitting in a chair beside her. The woman looked at him questionably.

"It was the stove," Leo shrugged. "And Donatello was still too young for me to allow him near it."

"Quit complaining you two." the cyborg turned his head to look at them and grinned with the organic half of his mouth. "You got to set up the cameras didn't you Leo?"

"Yeah, what fun," the oldest turtle muttered rolling his eyes.

"It's only two turtle job to install the stabilizer grid. Heck I'm not doing much here, just holding it in place while he's connecting it," Donatello added.

"And hold it still or this thing really will turn you inside out when we use it," the cyborg said and continued to use his tiny robot arms in the left hand on the open platform surface.

"How are you coping with having a passenger?" Leo looked at April's stomach area. She glanced down sighing slightly.

"I'm just going to have to live with it," she said and to the turtle's surprise smiled slightly. "I can't blame the child, although I would love shooting the father."

"Sorry." April then remembered that the father happened to be brother of the turtle she was talking too, but Leonardo only smiled.

"The feeling is mutual, although I am hoping to be able to talk some senses into him. He's sick and needs help, he will be put on trial for his crimes," he said. "Hopefully he will be put on a mental institution."

"You sure haven't lost hope on him have you?" The woman regarded the turtle who sighed heavily.

"I have never told anybody this, not that I have had many to speak about it too, but one time when he was torturing me I witnessed him speaking to himself. It wasn't the usual talking, you see he suddenly stopped his work on me and looked to be in pain then I heard his voice, it had changed."

"It was his real voice, the one I had known. Slightly mellow and shy. He sounded like he was struggling against something. Then the voice changed and became angry and demanding, he started to trash around the lab. Finally." Leo stopped and gulped. "The voice changed for the third time and became more similar to the one he speaks with as the emperor. It seemed to be taking charge and he stumbled somewhere into the lab. I couldn't see what he was doing, looked like he was injecting himself with something. Then he returned seemingly stable again and continued with my torture session like nothing had happened."

"Sounds like some form of dissociative identity disorder." Donatello looked up from the work. "And looks like he had found a way to keep it under control."

"Diss what now?" Leo asked confused.

"Fancy word over multiple personality disorder," Raphael explained. "But I don't understand how he could have developed a syndrome like that."

"Actually, if I take into account your origins," Don began. "Leo told me that Donatello had been severely abused and tortured in the lab."

"Yes, those sick bastards had a kick of seeing him suffer and used his escapes from his cage as an excuse to do it," the cyborg growled.

"Now the theory says that D.I.D is developed by severe abuse, and children are especially sensitive for it. It could be that Donatello simply developed two other personalities to try to keep himself sane, it is possible that the other two somehow could comfort him during the time of need. Then you all escaped and the normal Donatello didn't need them any longer," the ninja explained to the others.

"It is possible that his condition mellowed for a while but something could have happened later on that caused it to happen again and this time his other two personalities took control."

"I think I see what you mean, he did get an electric shock when he was eleven while fixing the toaster. I remember he began to show unusual temper shortly after that." The cyborg stopped working and looked at Leo who had heard everything. The turtle slowly stood up and walked off.

"Me and my big mouth." Raphael quickly withdrew the arms into his hand stood up. Then he hurried after Leonardo.

"What was that all about?" April wondered but Donatello could only shrug.

"Leo it happened four years later, there is no connection between it." The cyborg had yet again stopped his brother from maiming his hands. The older turtle stopped struggling and started hatefully at his hands firmly held by the metal ones Raphael had.

"Leonardo, don't look at your hands look at me," Raphael ordered, slowly his brother obeyed.

"You did nothing, nothing you hear me and it is not related to how our brother turned out. He was already sick; we just didn't know it until too late. It's not your fault, if anything it is my fault," the cyborg said finally letting go of his confused brother.

"Who was it that found out Donny-boy was making those chips that could read people's mind? Who found out he was beginning to modify them to control people? I did, I did it before he began to use them. I didn't do anything, these six first months when we suddenly began getting more food because he was making people steal it for us… I thought… for a moment I justified it… I felt the humans owed us this, but I took your side when you found out because you have always known better than us. I could have stopped this, I could have if I had busted him when the chips were still only in early stages, but I didn't. So if the fault is anybodies it's MINE!"

"You knew?" Leo asked frowning. The cyborg closed both his organic eye and mechanical before nodding.

"I better finish fixing the transpad," Raphael muttered and turned away. Leonardo watched him walk back to where Don and April waited too startled and confused to say a word.

The last minutes of the repairs were done in silence, only the mechanical sounds of the cyborgs tiny robot arms could be heard. Don didn't dare to break the silence and neither did April. Leonardo had returned to his chair but now leaned forward with both hands under his cheeks while staring thoughtful at his mechanical brother.

 _What was that?_ Donatello looked up; he had felt a presence of something familiar.

"Everything all right?" the cyborg asked while he was closing the platform.

"No I just… I thought I felt…" Don eyed around but couldn't see anything. _I could have sworn I heard Master Splinter._

"April, we need your programming skills so we can begin," Raphael told the woman. She nodded, rose from the chair and walked to the computer console.

"I have already modified what Donatello did but I am afraid that it can only transport two at once. So if you all three are going, one of you has to go alone," she explained. "And just about any distortion could disrupt the signal, so there is no telling what could happen."

"Then we must put it on a test run, with me as the test subject," Raphael stated as he rose up to his feet.

"What? But…"

"No arguing, if this works I am more ready to face any sudden danger right off the bat. Your martial art skills will be useless for the first few seconds while your body is fully materializing and the first few seconds afterwards, so you could easily be attacked and subdued in the meantime. You need a tank to dent my plastron." the cyborg cut Don's protests short and ushered him off the platform.

"All right, but we need to know somehow that this thing works," Donatello backed away from the transpad.

"There is a remote," Leo said. "It's in the drawer near the console."

April opened the small drawer, picked up the black remote and threw it to the cyborg.

"Ah yes I forgot about this, I can use it both to transport me or any object I point it at. I will find something when I have fully materialized and send it back as a sign this worked," he said. "Since it is connected to the transpad signal it should transport between worlds."

"All right initiating transport, let's hope this works. Transport in five, four, three, two, one…" April trailed off as soft light began to emerge from the platform and surround the cyborg. There was a brief flash and the large turtle was gone.

"Well, he's gone," Don whispered with his fingers crossed.

"But did it work?" Leonardo wondered.

* * *

 **2k3 - TMNT world**

The cyborg was momentarily blinded by the light but when he saw again he was no longer in his brother's private laboratory. He was in what looked like a warehouse; he saw vehicles parked inside it.

 _Oh right._ Raphael's memories kicked in as he had effectively downloaded Don's, he recognized the warehouse above the lair. He now recognized the Sewer Slider, the Battle-Shell and the Shell Cycle.

The cyborg quickly looked around but saw nobody or nothing that indicated a threat. Looking at the spot were the elevator would come up, Raphael could only wonder how the situation was down there. Before he could do anything about that, he needed to let the others know everything had worked.

He walked to a workbench and saw immediately what he could use as a sign. He picked up an old rusty pipe wrench, it had Donatello's name written on it in large black letters. The cyborg put the wrench on the floor and aimed the remote at it. Soon the tool disappeared in a small flash.

* * *

 **Turtotopia**

"Something is coming through," April reported and just at that moment light began to pour from the platform and the pipe wrench materialized on it. Don smiled wide when seeing it.

"It's my pipe wrench," he shouted happily, rushed to it picking it up and hugged it tight. "My brother Raph gave it to me when we were ten for Christmas, he found it when he went with Master Splinter scavenging for supplies."

"Leave it to Raphael to find something of sentimental value." Leonardo smiled. Donatello looked around and spotted were he had thrown the clothes. The turtle ran to it picked up the shirt and started to rip it apart until he had a suitable belt. Then he tied it around himself and tugged the wrench on his side.

"There, now we are ready to go," Don nodded pleased and returned to the transpad. Leo joined him on the platform.

"All right initiating transport," April said and began the countdown. The normal lightshow started and the two turtles disappeared but right at that moment the woman got an error message on the computer screen. She gasped in shock. "Oh no, something disturbed the signal."

* * *

 **Somewhere**

Donatello blinked while trying to fight the temporary blindness. He averted his eyes and was surprised to see himself in a half-dark room. He eyed around and saw it was made of stone, further away he saw two shapes. One was lying and the other was standing close to it.

"Wait… this isn't right," he said looking at Leonardo who was himself looking slightly confused around.

"Dammit, you were quicker at this than I thought," a familiar voice addressed them. Looking back at the two shapes and since their vision was becoming clearer the two turtles gasped in shock.

Donatello saw his brother Leo and for a moment thought he saw double. Standing Leo was black clad with a rifle fastened on his back, utility belt around his waist and was wearing a shirt, shorts, sandals and gloves. He pointed a black handled katana at lying Leo who wore a familiar blue mask and other battle gear. His blue handled swords were lying further away.

"Leo!" Don shouted alarmed when he recognized his brother and saw that predicament he was in.

"Don?" the blue clad ninja smiled wider momentarily forgetting he was in danger of having his throat impaled. But then reality hit him. "Don watch out…"

The assassin kicked him in the head knocking him out, then turned to the newly arrived with a smirk, though there was a hint of annoyance in his eyes. Donatello had been about to rush to help his brother but the oldest turtle in the room stopped him, glaring suspiciously at his black clad counterpart.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Turtotopia Leonardo and my prisoner's Donatello," he said. "This was an unexpected development… I should say but then I would be lying. Of course you are here a bit earlier than I planned."

"Who are you?" Donatello asked startled.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm your brother's counterpart. Leonardo is my name, an assassin and bounty hunter by trade." The assassin did a mock bow and stepped away from the unconscious turtle. He clasped his gloved hands together grinning even wider than Don had thought possible. "And you Donatello are exactly the turtle I wanted to meet."

 **End Chapter 11**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 29/12 2005

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

 **Assassin's World**

"What do you mean I'm the turtle you wanted to meet," Don asked confused, he was mostly shielded from view by older Leonardo who was narrowing his eyes on the approaching turtle.

"Well you see, like I have already explained to your brother I travel dimensions like other people travel between towns. I have gone around and I have met many counterparts of us mutant turtles. There are many different worlds, but did you know that we still retain some differences?" the assassin stopped in a slight distance from the two turtles. He glanced at his older counterpart who was giving clear signals that coming closer would not be appreciated.

"Well no, in fact few days ago I didn't even know there were different worlds," Donatello shrugged. "What does it have to do with me?"

"I have been studying you and your family for a month, watching your movements learning your behavior. You and your brothers fought brilliantly against that metal clad maniac, I was worried for a moment I might have had to drop in and reveal my presence," the assassin grinned evilly.

"Wait, I remember you." older Leonardo frowned. "You actually broke into the palace… you stole something from the private laboratory."

"I did? Oh right I took a bit of that drug the emperor uses to keep himself sane," the assassin. "But I thought you were drugged up in that chair?"

"The drug doesn't dull my senses or memories, it's a torture but I'm still self aware," the older turtle claimed. His younger counterpart waved him off.

"Anyway," Leo said with a slight frustration in his voice over the interruption. But his frown formed back into a smile.

"I came to your dimension, Donatello." the assassin's smile became even more devious. "I studied you and your brothers and came to a very surprising conclusion."

"Your world and mine are actually very similar, the most similar of them all," he continued.

"I ask again… though I am sure I am going to regret it… what does it have to do with me?" Don asked a worried frown was forming.

"Let's just say that for now I need you for a special project, thanks to our worlds similarities I can actually use you," he pointed ad Don.

"Use me for what?" Donatello asked confused.

"That's going to be a surprise," the assassin said with a chuckle.

"And what if I don't want to be used for any special project?" Don frowned; the older turtle immediately stepped in front of him growling at the assassin who was slightly surprised at this attitude.

"I'm really not giving you a choice," he said and reached for his katana. "In fact if things had gone a little more correctly I wouldn't even have to force you to do it."

 _What?_ Donatello blinked but his surprise didn't escape Leonardo.

"As I mentioned earlier, you arrived a bit earlier than I intended," the assassin grunted and spun his sword. "But once I'm done with your bodyguard I'll just have to improvise a bit with you."

"Get to your brother and try to wake him up, I'll hold him off." the older turtle pushed Don back as the assassin approached.

"Are you crazy, that's a katana he's holding and he just spun it like an expert meaning he knows how to use it," Donatello protested.

"Then get the swords on the floor, you are a ninja aren't you?" Leonardo pushed him further while backing himself.

"Well, not exactly my weapon of choice," Don muttered and made a dash for Leo's katana swords. The assassin would probably have followed him if his own counterpart hadn't appeared in front of him shielding the way.

"Don't even think about it," he snarled.

"Please." The assassin sneered and swung his katana. Leo turned so the blow hit his shell. The turtle grimaced in pain and yelped when he felt the sword being dislodged out of his shell.

"Are you stupid? Your natural armor can only take light blows," the black clad turtle chuckled. Leonardo turned towards him, anger slowly rising.

"I have had worse happen to me than a sword in my carapace," he growled.

"Really?" the assassin smirked while standing straight with his blood-covered katana pointing upwards.

At that moment Donatello had reached the swords and was just about to spin around to run back and fight the black clad turtle when a weak voice addressed him.

"D-Donny?"

He turned slightly in his crouching position to see where his brother was rising slightly and reaching out for him.

"Leo." Donatello almost stood up and ran too him when he heard a thud and a groan. The usually purple-wearing turtle turned again and his entire body froze in shock at the sight before him.

The older turtle stood right in front of the assassin with his arms open and clenched fists. However, he didn't move just stood and Don saw too well why, the assassin was still holding his sword but had rammed it right into his older counterpart. The katana had gone right through his plastron, the blade sunk all the way to the handle and small point of the katana was sticking out of the back. Expertly the black clad turtle pulled out the sword and in a swift motion slashed the katana again.

"NO!" Don shouted but it was too late. He watched as the lifeless decapitated body of the old turtle fell to the ground. The head flew somewhere into the dark room.

"Pathetic," the assassin grunted pushing the body away with his right foot.

"Donny, throw me a katana." Leo had seen the murder as well and was just as shocked as his brother was but recovered more quickly and was on his feet.

"Here." Don threw one of his brother's swords to him but wielded the other one as he rose up as well.

"Be careful Don, he's swift and very agile and knows some moves unknown to us." Leonardo warned his brother. "We need his dimension traveler to get back home."

"What? You mean we are still in another dimension? Damn something must have happened." Donatello shook his head but then the brothers approached the assassin carefully. Leo's counterpart waited with his katana pointed down.

"You are going to pay for killing my friend," Don shouted and rushed forward and so did Leo.

"Am I?" the assassin smiled and back flipped over the two turtles landing behind them. The swung his katana but the two brothers turned swiftly and blocked the attack.

"If I recall correctly, the katana isn't exactly Donatello's weapon," Leo's counterpart said then swiftly kicked the sword out of Don's hand, the katana scattered into the darkness. Donatello immediately backed away and Leo was forced to fence alone while Don went to search for the weapon.

"Don," Leo called eyeing suddenly an opening. Donatello stopped and saw his brother on the defense against his opponent. The blue clad turtle had a plan; he quickly and unexpectedly darted closer towards the assassin.

Swiftly Leo grabbed for the calculator looking device and once it was in his hands he ducked just as his counterpart tried to strike the sword at him. Leo threw the dimensional traveler to his brother. "Quick, open a portal."

"What?" Donny questioned confused. Leo was again in full defense against the very furious assassin.

"Don't ask; just find the button to open a portal. It hopefully will lead home," Leo called as he blocked a punch from his counterpart. He then responded with an upper kick, which was effectively blocked. Don noticed that the assassin was trying to get closer to him and the blue clad turtle was preventing it.

Don began to examine the device and frowned at the alien letters on it. He glanced nervously at the battle, then regretfully at the body of the old turtle. _I'm sorry, I should have been quicker._

"Don!" Leo called. The assassin had disarmed him and the blue clad turtle was making a mad dash towards his brother. "Hit a button now, he's drawing A GUN!"

Don quickly hit a random button and by some sheer luck a black gateway opened right in front of him. Just at that moment Leo came running and swiftly grabbed his wrist and jumped through pulling his brother along.

This happened so suddenly that Donatello dropped the traveler and it fell clinging to the stone floor. Just as the portal was closing a dart soared through the air but just missed and landed harmlessly on a wall.

* * *

 **2k3 TMNT-world**

Mikey stared forward where he sat, only his steady breathing and the occasional blink of the eyes indicated the turtle was alive. Inside there was a fierce struggle going on.

 _I gotta wake up from this nightmare. Get control, I don't want this. Someone help me, I can't move._

 _You obey or die._

 _Shut up. Leave me alone. Leave my head._

 _Obey or die._

 _Shut up, shut up, shut up!_

"Mikey!"

 _No, I'm not obeying._ But his head turned into the direction of the voice.

"Go and move the rat out of the room we are keeping him in, it's time we start on him," the emperor ordered, he was back at the workstation.

 _No, not Master Splinter. Stop body, stop._ He stood up and began walking towards Splinter's chamber. But a black portal opened right in front of him and through it came two turtles and crashed into him, sending all three to the floor.

"What the hell?" The emperor frowned when seeing the blue bandanna on one turtle and seeing the other was his duplicate. "Oh great."

Leo stared shocked at his orange-clad and expressionless brother. "Mikey?"

"Mikey attack!" the emperor ordered. Instantly Michelangelo scowled, grabbed Leo's shoulders and threw him off. He then tried to kick at Donatello who just managed to jump out of the way.

"Mikey, what's wrong with you?" Leo shouted as he rose up but Mikey didn't say a word, in swift motion he jumped towards him and kicked but Leo blocked it.

"Leo?" Raph was recovering from what the emperor had being doing and could hear the commotion all the way to the kitchen. "Leo, he can't help it, he's under mind control."

 _Mind control?_ Leonardo swiftly ducked from side to side avoiding the rapid punches coming from his brother who was then tackled down by Donatello.

"Mikey we don't want to hurt you," he stated but the orange-clad turtle kicked him off easily and jumped up.

"Mikey fight it, we know you can," Leo shouted as he, at a force of habit, reached for his katana, but remembered that they were in another dimension. He had to leap out of the way when a nunchaku almost hit his head.

"You!" Donatello had spotted the emperor.

"So you are Donatello of this world," the evil overlord snorted.

"That I am but I can't say I'm happy to finally meet you." Don swiftly leaped high and far enough to land a kick on his counterpart's chest. The emperor was flung back and crashed into the worktable.

"Donny, I wanted to do that," Raph complained from the kitchen, his vantage point allowed him to see to the workstation.

"I'll save some for you," his brother called grinning and was ready to continue beating up the emperor who was rising up and holding a remote.

"Wait Don stop!" Raphael recognized it too well. "H-he can fry Mikey's brain with that."

"Then I won't let him." Don jumped closer and kicked the remote out of his hands before he could push a button. The ninja grabbed the emperor's lab coat and pulled him closer.

"Donny, what took you so long?" April called from where she was tied up.

"Oh hi April, just a moment." Don looked over to her before returning his attention to the overlord.

"How do you shut down the mind control?" the ninja hissed at him, but his counterpart only smirked.

"I'm afraid there is no off button, you really think I'm stupid enough to design this with an off button? Well you can surgically remove the chip, that should do it." The overlord then pointed where Mikey and Leo still fought. "But you have to knock him out first and I'm afraid the chip also gives him added strength and agility."

"Hey Don," Raph snapped, Don glanced back to the kitchen to look at his tied up brother. "Do you mind?"

Donatello dragged his counterpart to over there and started to feel under the table to find a button. He pushed it and the straps holding Raphael came off. The hot-tempered turtle couldn't help himself and started to laugh.

"I have been waiting for this chance." He then swiftly jumped off the table, grabbed Emperor Donatello and dragged him out of the kitchen. There he slammed the turtle up against one of the columns.

"I am so going to…" Raph began but a too familiar pricking sensation hit his right shoulder, glancing at it he saw a dart sticking out.

"Crud, not again," he managed to say before falling unconscious to the floor. Don quickly grabbed his counterpart. He looked for a moment at the sleeping turtle, then he and the emperor looked up.

 _Ah shell._ Don gulped when he saw that the assassin had returned, in one hand was his small dart gun and in the other he held Leo's katanas. Fastened on the belt was the dimension traveler.

"What took you so long," the emperor growled trying to break loose but Don raised his fist growling, threatening to punch.

The assassin didn't answer instead he jumped and landed a kick on unprepared Leo who was thrown off and landed in the pool. Then swiftly he used one of his counter part's swords to threaten Mikey who had become still once his target had disappeared into the water.

"Release that fool, he still owes me money," Leonardo snapped. Reluctantly Don obeyed and his counterpart quickly stepped away dusting off his coat and glared at the younger version of himself.

Leo merged from the water and began to climb up but was ordered to stay where he was by his own counterpart. Seeing his orange-clad brother in danger, the blue-masked turtle obeyed although glaring daggers at the black clad turtle.

"Now, Leo and Don, that is not the emperor. You two are coming back with me, and we are going leave Donatello, that is the emperor, alone with his little experiments," the assassin said. He didn't notice the stone elevator door opening up behind him, nor the large dark shadow walking silently into the lair.

"Well you heard him." the emperor as well hadn't noticed anything as he was still staring at his counterpart and was now gesturing Don to go.

"I'm afraid," a canned voice said. "Nobody is going anywhere."

"Huh?" The assassin turned and had to look up to stare at the menacing face of Cyborg Raphael. The mechanical turtle roughly grabbed his shirt and forcefully threw him away.

"OH SHIT!" Leo's counterpart screamed as he flew up to the second level and collided with the wall up there.

"The hell?" The emperor recognized his cyborg but realized that by his action he was not on his side.

"Raphael!" Don was extremely relieved and quickly seized the emperor again by the lab coat.

"Oh great, don't tell me. You shut down Tella so he had a chance to destroy the mind control device installed in him," the overlord snarled. His counterpart pulled him closer glaring at him.

"Yes I did and you know what? I think he wants to have a little chat with you." Don then threw the emperor towards the cyborg. "Hey Raphael, look who I found."

"Ah, Emperor Donatello." The cyborg grinned with the organic part of his mouth. "Finally."

"Mikey distract him," the emperor ordered and the orange-clad turtle instantly jumped into the way of the large turtle.

"Be careful, that's my brother Michelangelo. He's under some short of a mind control," Don called.

"Donny, what is that thing." Leo was now out of the water and staring startled at the cyborg who was staring thoughtful at Mikey.

"Mind control chip," Cyborg Raphael said and glanced at where the emperor was slowly rising up. "So killing you will kill him. Just like Leo said, you always have a backup plan."

"He still hasn't won, just hold Mikey." Don jumped over the bench and landed on top of the emperor who fell to the floor again with a grunt.

"All right." The cyborg hesitated slightly when hearing the turtle's nickname. Quickly he grabbed the turtle who had become motionless again as he hadn't received further orders.

"Don." Leo frowned when seeing the large turtle grab a firm hold on his brother.

"It's ok, he's on our side." Don assured the blue clad ninja while forcefully dragging the emperor to his feet. "We just need somebody to hold Mikey down while he has no control over his body."

"Will somebody release me!" Suddenly cried the frustrated voice of April.

"Oh right, sorry April." Don threw his counterpart into Leo's direction. The blue clad ninja instantly jumped closer and grabbed the emperor up, glaring at him.

"And will you stop tossing me around like rag doll!" the emperor snapped but nobody paid any attention to him.

"I think I have something sedative in my room, but I better untie April first before she kills me for forgetting her," he said and darted to his workstation. Soon enough April was rising up rubbing her sore wrists. Then the normally purple-wearing ninja darted up the stairs to the upper level.

"I have the tools to remove the chip out of your brother's head, I can do it when Donatello comes back with the sedatives, otherwise it will hurt very much," Raphael offered. Leo looked at the mechanical turtle still slightly unsure about him.

"You know, you remind me…" Raph had been regarding his brother's counterpart for a moment. "Donatello, where is my Leo. He was coming too."

"What are you…"

"You shut up," Leo snapped and raised one fist like he was going to hit the emperor.

"Your… Leo…" Don had stopped on his way up to the platform.

"Donny, you go and get the sedatives," Leonardo called; his brother hesitated and then continued up. The blue clad turtle took a deep breath.

"I'm guessing that your Leo is yet another counterpart of me and he was going to be accompanying my brother?" He looked at the cyborg who nodded.

"Then I regret to inform you that your brother is dead, he was killed by the black clad turtle you threw away," Leo wasn't surprised to see the shocked expression on the cyborg but was when seeing the shock on the emperor.

"He killed him?" they both asked at the same time.

* * *

"Man what happened to my room?" Don looked around in dismay. The emperor had been busy with it. It was full of machine parts and computer equipment.

"Where is my computer." The turtle blinked when seeing no sign of it. "It took me months to build it up to proper design. Oh I'm going to kill that bastard!"

"Wait, first things first, the sedatives…" he didn't get further as a cloth suddenly covered his mouth and he was harshly pulled back. The cloth tied around his head preventing him from being able to shout out. A black gloved hand grabbed his neck, and a strong arm wrapped itself around him and managed to pin his arms at the sides.

"I was really hoping I didn't have to do it this way, but your friends aren't leaving me with much of a choice." The voice was chilly but it was the voice of the assassin. Don began struggling fiercely but the other turtle was strong.

"Now you are coming with me." Leo's counterpart began to back towards the doorway with Donatello who tried to pry himself loose.

"Is he?" a canned voice said. Don felt the assassin's grip on him come loose as the black clad turtle was grabbed by a metal hand and forcefully ripped off. Raphael grabbed the front of Leonardo's shirt and carried him to the ledge outside from where you could see the lower level.

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you," the cyborg growled. Donatello came running out of his room removing the cloth from his mouth. He was surprised to see that the assassin didn't seem alarmed at all by being held over a ledge by a mechanical turtle.

"For one, I won't give you the chance." Leonardo smirked and in a swift movement swung up planting his feet firmly on the metal plastron and pushed. The shirt was torn to shreds and Leo's counterpart fell down towards the bottom level. However, he never made contact, on his way down he had drawn up his traveler and the assassin was swallowed by a black portal that disappeared once he was through.

"Blast it," Raphael growled and threw away the shirt part he held in his hand.

"Ok no time to worry about him, we need to rid Mikey of the mind control chip." Don ran straight back to his room. "By the way can I kill your evil brother? He's thrown away my computer."

"I'm afraid you can't." The cyborg walked into the room. "My brother told us that if we killed him your father would die as well, you see he drugged him and the formula for the antidote only exists in my brother's brain."

"Can't you just do the same with him you did with me?" Don asked while unlocking a drawer on his desk and pulled out a metal box. From there he brought out a syringe and a small bottle. "Here that should put Mikey to sleep so we can remove the chip."

"You mean the mind link connection?" the cyborg asked referring to Don's question.

"Yes, can't you just do that?" the now purple wearing turtle asked, he had used the opportunity to rescue his beloved mask from the table and tied it around his head.

"Why of course I can, but I need him alive to do it," Raphael said grinning. They walked down to the lower level. Don was mildly amused to see that his counterpart had been strapped to the table, which had been relocated to the workstation. Raph had been moved to the couch and April sat on a chair near him. Leonardo was keeping Mikey at bay.

"Ok let's begin with Mikey." Donny started to fill the syringe and then approached their orange-clad brother who was held still by Leo on a chair.

"Mikey I'm sorry, I know you hate needles but we have to do this to get the chip out," Donatello addressed their brother, as expected no answer came from the mind controlled turtle.

 _Oh thank you Donny, thank you._ Was racing through his brain on the other hand.

 **End Chapter 12**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** No original posting date because Turtotopia was originally only 12 chapter

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

"That's it? Mikey's life was on the line by this?" Raph held the tiny computer chip between his thumb and index finger. The red-clad ninja was examining the small object but could hardly believe it.

"And this is the chip that was inside the emperor." Don held a slightly bigger chip in his hand. He cringed a little when there was a scream from his work corner. "Aren't you done yet?"

"Just a little longer," the cyborg had his right hand thrust up against the emperor's beak. The needle, Don knew all to well what did, deep inside. His counterpart was this time the one screaming in agony and begging for mercy.

"What is he doing to him?" Leo was watching although he really didn't know why. He felt his stomach turn at the sight; the turtle gave up finally and faced the two other brothers who sat on the couch.

"He is connecting to his brain and downloading all his memories," Don explained and then rubbed his beak right at the spot where he himself had endured the same punishment. "It's very painful process, but you survive."

"He better because I want a turn to make him scream." Raph handed the chip back to his purple-clad brother. Don put it on the table along with the other one. April, who had been silent, picked the devices up and began examining them.

The screams finally subsided, Leo and Raph turned to see the cyborg withdraw the needle out of the emperor and pull it back into his hand. He left the work corner and walked directly to them.

"I…" the mechanical turtle looked shaken. "I have the formula in my head… we can wake up your father."

Don stood up and accompanied the large turtle back, leaving Leo, Raph and April still sitting. The red-masked turtle and the woman now looked at the blue-wearing ninja.

"So when exactly did the bozo that looked like you switch places with you?" Raphael asked.

"When I went to fetch Do… I mean the emperor from April's. I was half way there when I felt like somebody was following me. Then I felt something stick into my neck and everything went black. I woke up chained in a stone room." Leo rubbed the back of his neck. "I tell you, this counterpart of mine really freaked me out."

"Freaked you out? He swept the floor with my shell and on top of that put me to sleep twice." Raph hammered his right fist into open left palm. "That cheating bastard."

"He was so quick, I barely remember seeing him there suddenly in my living room and the next I know I'm tied up in the lair," April shuddered.

"He didn't imply to you that he was attracted to you did he?" Leo almost sounded sarcastic. Raphael and April stared dumbfounded at him.

"Come again?" Raph wasn't sure he heard it right but Leonardo shook his head.

"I'm not going to repeat that, I felt very uncomfortable there. I can deal with being captured by an enemy who wants me dead but this was…" Leo trailed off.

"I'm going to check on Mikey, see if he's up." Raph could see that it was better just to leave the subject. The other turtle just nodded and remained the couch. April returned the devices back to the table.

* * *

"Good thing you have all the right chemicals." The cyborg noted, on the worktable were now gathered various jars and bottles. Donatello was carefully mixing the right stuff together with the help of the larger turtle.

"Yeah, thanks to April, she got most of it for me," Don grunted and glared back at the table were the emperor was recovering from earlier. "He better have not done anything to her other than tie her up."

"I understand your anger and you have only had a small sample of what my brother was capable of." Raphael sighed and as carefully as he could put his right hand on Don's shoulder. "I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you remind me of what my Donatello could have been like."

"Really?" Don frowned and stopped momentarily in his work to look at the smiling cyborg.

"Everybody have a potential of being good or evil at any stage of their life. It is what happens to them and how they deal with it that makes the difference. You were raised by a loving father who taught you about honor and ethical behavior," Raphael said taking the hand off Don's shoulder to point at the emperor.

"My brother was like me, mutated as an experiment, he didn't get parental love right away and he was tortured and abused. Life shaped him into a much more fragile person who didn't need much to snap and when it did all hell broke loose. He couldn't handle the choices life gave him and ended taking the easy way."

"You didn't sound that understanding when you were trying to clobber me," Don stated raising an eye-ridge. The mechanical turtle sighed heavily, glancing back at his brother.

"I… when I connected with his mind and began downloading…" he fell silent. Donatello was taken aback a bit when a tear crawled down from the organic eye on the cyborg.

"There is a part of my brother who regrets all his actions and has in fact tried to break through, gain control. He has tried to free himself, but other parts are stronger and subdue him. Like you said, his real personality, the one I helped raise is being submerged by two others who hold him back and are in control," Raph's canned voice was very low.

"Earlier I wanted nothing more than to slaughter him for his actions… but now… now I understand why Leo kept hoping… I understand why he still had hope for our brother, he knew about our brother's condition but couldn't do anything as he was alone. I was mind controlled and Donatello… well…"

"And then by some weird twist of fate you came." The large reptile stared down at the smaller younger one now with a smile. "You kind of brought hope to me, I had lost it the moment I woke up in this body for the first time."

"You're welcome I guess." Don shrugged and resumed his work.

"There is something else bothering you than what my brother did, isn't it?" Raphael asked although it sounded more like a statement. The ninja stopped again in his work, took a deep breath and then continued while nodding.

"Dare I ask?" the older turtle asked.

"It was the black clad version of Leo," Don whispered. "He really was intent on having me. I just wish I knew for what."

"And that creep escaped, I should have held him by the throat," the cyborg grunted. "In fact I should have just acted instead of talked, I should have crushed his shell."

"He spoke of how our worlds were similar but I don't get what use he has for me and why he seemed to intent on getting at least me," Don muttered and put the final chemical in the beaker. He started to stir the formula and it turned slightly blue in color.

"Blue but still transparent, the formula is complete," the cyborg nodded, he put his right hand again on Don's shoulder. "Go wake your father and don't worry about the black wearing scumbag."

* * *

"Hey Mikey, you're awake," Raphael smiled wide when he walked into his brother's bedroom and saw Michelangelo slowly open his eyes to see who had come.

"Y-yeah," he said weakly. "Guess… so."

"Man, were we worried about you." Raph grabbed a chair and pulled it to his brother's bed. "How are ya feelin'?"

The guilty look on Mikey's face was all the answer the red-clad ninja needed. He sighed and attempted to pat his brother on the arm but Mike withdrew it. The usually orange-clad turtle didn't want comforting.

"Mikey, it wasn't your fault. You weren't even in control bro." Raph drew himself closer to the bed. "There was nothing either of us could do, as much as I hate to admit it."

Mike turned his head away staring at the wall beside the bed. Raphael sighed and hung his head. He stared for a moment down at the chair before raising it again.

"Mikey I'm not mad at you for hitting me. I know you didn't do it intentionally and you had no control. Leo and Don also are not mad at ya for attacking them, they knew as well you couldn't do anything," Raph explained but there was no response. The ninja took a deep breath trying to keep his rising temper and frustration into control.

"I'm trying to help you here Mikey, you have got to understand that this was out of our control," he then said.

"Oh I understand that." Raph didn't like how serious and broken his brother's voice sounded. "But that doesn't stop the memories."

"What, you remember everything? Wait, oh yeah he said something about that," the red clad turtle scratched his head. "Do you remember when exactly he got control over you?"

"I… yeah I remember… it was right after I woke up. You see when you came I wasn't asleep I had been told to pretend to be and then wake up on cue. It was scary Raph… my body and even my voice refused to listen to me, they did everything he wanted me to do." Mikey turned his head back to face his brother.

"But the worst part was lying there, hear every word he said about what the chip could do to me and I couldn't do anything and… and… I'm scared Raph."

"We were all scared Mikey. Leo, Don, even me. But everything is ok now, Don is waking Splinter up and that emperor guy is going to be punished." Raphael assured him.

"What about the other guy… the one who looked like Leo?" the younger turtle frowned.

"'fraid he escaped," Raph grunted.

* * *

Donatello knelt by the bedside of Master Splinter and could only wait. The formula had been injected and now it was a waiting game. In the doorframe stood Leo and held his breath without realizing it.

 _He said it was ready; he got the formula out of him so he couldn't have been wrong… Could he? Maybe I did something wrong, maybe I just got the right color but not the right…_ he halted on his train of thoughts when there was movement in the bed.

"Master Splinter?" he addressed his sensei. Leo let go of his breath and took one step inside.

"Dona…tello… my son." Slowly the old rat opened his eyes and reached out with his hand. Don grabbed for it squeezing it slightly, he was smiling wide in relief. "You're… home."

"Yes sensei, I'm back," the purple clad said excited. Leonardo now came all the way in and knelt beside his brother.

"Leonardo, you are home as well." Splinter's voice was growing stronger. The old ninja master began to rise up and was aided by both his turtle students. "Where are Raphael and Michelangelo?"

"Mikey is resting master, Raph is tending to him," Leo answered while helping his father to sit on the edge of the bed.

"And what of our 'guests'?" the rat asked surprising his sons slightly.

"Well we have the one responsible contained and his brother is making sure he doesn't go anywhere." Leo brushed off his surprise, after all this was Splinter. The two ninjas were not sure what to think when Splinter frowned slightly and muttered something they didn't hear. The aged master stood up with the support of Leo, Don handed him his walking stick and the three walked out. There April greeted the rat by hugging him.

"It is good to see you safe as well Miss O'Neil," Splinter commented with a smile and returned the hug. Then he saw the emperor tied up on the table.

"I'm afraid my sons, that you do not have the one responsible contained," the old rat said frowning slightly.

"What?" Don looked at his master confused. "But he…"

"Yes, he did many things." Splinter walked closer to the strapped turtle who was staring back with uneasy eyes. The cyborg stood behind the bench but remained motionless and neutral faced. "But his arrival here was as much as surprise to him as it was to us. Is that not so Emperor Donatello?"

"Eh… uh… yeah," the emperor answered.

"I may have been asleep but I was not blind or senseless. Emperor Donatello was simply a pawn, used to throw us off track to make it easier for the one really responsible to make his moves. He did not wish to face us when all five together as a family. But if he could manage to disrupt the family, divide it." Splinter fell silent for a moment and then looked at his Donatello who dropped into heavy thoughts at his master's words.

"I believe Donatello that you can maybe see the answer of who I speak off more clearly, you have the technical knowledge," his master offered.

"I'm sorry sensei but I…" Don frowned when suddenly an idea hit him. He looked at his counterpart. "A glitch in the transpad that causes a switch, not just between any dimensions but two realities…"

"That's too much to be a coincidence," the emperor said raising his head slightly, he was about to be told to shut up by the cyborg but Don raised his hand in signal to let him talk.

"Why should a glitch cause you to switch with me? A glitch would more likely just simply scatter your atoms after the transpad transported you," he said.

"The safety protocols would have brought me back in one piece, glitch or not, it would have overwritten it," the emperor explained now thinking. "Unless… unless the protocols were changed and the glitch was deliberately inserted."

"But to do that is not enough to know programming or how to sabotage, any idiot can sabotage," Donatello said, resisting the urge to say 'just ask Mikey or Raph'. "But to create something that causes a switch between realities, that requires knowledge about dimensional travelling."

"Especially since the switch was flawless, we even changed clothes, this was over too quickly to be an accident," his counterpart added.

"Wait a minute." Leo realized suddenly that this sounded familiar. "The assassin, he has a dimension traveller. He said he travelled between worlds for his jobs."

"He said he travelled different worlds like people travel between countries, he told me had seen many other counterparts and different realities." Donatello gulped. "And he has broken into the emperor's laboratory before."

"What?" The emperor frowned when hearing that, then glanced at his cyborg brother.

"Remember the security breach we had a year ago, that was him," the mechanical Raphael explained to him. He had been filled in on the break in earlier.

"But why?" Leo asked confused. "Why go all this trouble."

Everybody looked at each other not really knowing the answer, except Don. The answer hit him like a steamroller. When all eyes turned to him the purple clad turtle realized he had gasped and they had heard him.

"Because he wanted me," he whispered, looking for some support he eyed the cyborg who nodded. The purple-masked ninja then looked at Master Splinter who as well nodded like he knew the answer. It was probably though just a gesture for his son to continue.

"The Assassin said he wanted me for some special project. I don't know what it was but when I transported into that room with the Emperor's Leonardo he was expecting me. He had told me I came too early but he was expecting me. He kept being very insistent that he wanted me, even going so far to try and abduct me from my room earlier," he told them.

"He also seemed to want me… but um… never mind," Leo shook his head; this was just getting too weird.

"The glitch wasn't a glitch at all, it was a programming code. It probably enabled the transpad to transport between worlds, he intended for me to return just not to my own world," Donatello explained.

"This sounds like awful lot of trouble just to get one turtle." Raph appeared from the upper level but the turtle had heard everything. He then rushed to Splinter. "Master Splinter, good to see you're awake."

"Yes my son, how is your brother?" his sensei asked.

"He is not coping very well, it's going to take some time for him to recover," Raph explained, Splinter simply nodded in understanding. The red clad turtle eyed his purple wearing brother.

"So all this was happening, just because some wacko version of Leo wants Donny for something?" he asked very unimpressed.

"Looks like it." Don scratched his head still frowning. "He said he has been studying us for at least a month, so he has been planning this for a while…"

Donatello frowned then suddenly the realization hit him. _If he has been studying us for a month…_

The turtle ran for his work corner and picked up scanning equipment, everybody watched him slightly confused as he started to walk around the lair with the scanner.

"Aha," Don shouted from the couch. He pulled something from under it and walked back to the group.

"A mobile surveillance camera." He showed what looked like a black sphere with a small camera lens. It was black in color and had what looked like small helicopter blades.

"Leo, you want to do the honors?" Don threw the sphere into air and Leo quickly grabbed a katana and slashed the device to pieces.

"He might have more but now we know how he has been studying us, he has practically been in the lair for a month," Leonardo said while sheathing his sword.

"And he escaped," Raph growled fingering his sai.

"He did, but if he were to return we will be ready," Splinter said simply and then walked all the way to the table. "I suspect it is time for our esteemed guest to return to his world, I believe people eagerly await his return."

"Indeed," the cyborg grinned. "I'll see to it that he will cause no more trouble, I already had a plan and although our brother died while protecting your son, I can still execute it."

"I am grateful that you and your brother assisted my son in returning home, thank you." Splinter then bowed slightly for the mechanical turtle who simply nodded.

"And I'm honored to meet the person who brought him up to be the kind honorable turtle he is today," the cyborg said. Then he simply grabbed the table and tore it off the floor. Splinter backed away so not to be in the way. The large turtle then held the table so the emperor was in an upright position.

"Now dear brother of mine, you are going to say a nice and polite goodbye and apologize for your actions here. Then it's off to our reality were you will be tried for your crimes," the cyborg said smiling evilly at the emperor. "And don't give me any trouble about it either, Raphie-bro is back in charge and you are due for some serious punishment for your misbehavior."

 _Raphie-bro?_ Raph stared unsure at his mechanical counterpart then eyed Don who just shrugged smiling sheepishly.

"Go on, say it," the cyborg ordered the tied turtle. Who muttered something and then glared around at all the unfriendly eyes he was met with.

"Goodbye and I'm sorry what I did," the emperor grunted.

"That wasn't very polite but that will have to do, we need to go." The cyborg then removed the remote from a compartment on his red shoulder pad.

"Farwell all, it was a trip meeting you. Donatello, thank you again." He pushed the button and in a flashing light the emperor and he were gone.

"So Donny, I believe you owe us a story." Raph grabbed his brother's shoulder and began pushing him towards the couch. "And don't skip the details."

They all got seated around the couch or in it and Donatello began telling them everything what happened to him from the moment the fateful explosion.

"The explosion wasn't probably an explosion; it's more likely that the sound travelled with the emperor from his world. What you probably saw was only the light from the transportation energy, the sod and the smoke probably came from the other world too. The TV was probably caught in the energy stream and didn't survive it," Don explained when Raph inquired about the mysterious explosion. He was then told what had been happening while he was gone.

"It is pretty obvious now that the emperor had to play along as it went. Nothing was pre-planned and he gave many hints that he wasn't you at all without realizing it," Leo mentioned.

"I think Raphael's suspicions didn't make it any easer for him, it forced him to take more drastic actions when he saw he couldn't fool him any longer," Splinter nodded in approval to his red-clad student.

"The assassin had me fooled when he first showed up as Leo, if I hadn't followed the emperor to April's and seen him arrive in his stupid outfit I would never have guessed," Raph grunted, his two brothers looked at him. A bit surprised that he was confessing this so easily. April nodded to confirm this.

"The assassin, unlike the emperor had everything pre-planned. This was all part of his game. His failure was that he underestimated you all," their sensei explained. "But if he is as cunning as I suspect, I doubt that will be his next mistake."

"And I don't think he thought I would bring along a cyborg he couldn't exactly tackle." Don smiled and showed them his bandaged foot. "Trust me, you don't kick him. He told me himself, you need a tank to dent his plastron."

Don then proceeded to tell about their counterparts from Turtotopia, their origins and what he knew what happened later, both from the accounts of Tella and Turtotopia Leo. Splinter sighed sadly when hearing about what happened to young Mikey and everybody frowned when hearing the diagnosis of the emperor's madness.

"It is sad that somebody with so much potential would turn this way," Leonardo said.

"Well I hope they lock him up for good," Raph snorted, he half expected some arguments about that but there were none.

"I'm just glad this is over and…" Don fell silent. "He was very protective."

"Huh?" Leo and Raph looked at him confused.

"Leonardo, not the assassin but the emperor's brother. He was very protective, I think he took me in… as a family member. He died so I had a chance to get the weapons… I doubt I would have if I had been alone." Donatello put his right palm over his face. He tried to suppress the tears.

"He didn't even get to make peace with anybody, his Raphael, or even the emperor. He had never lost hope on his brother, he clung to it and finally when he actually has a chance…" The floodgates opened, Donatello couldn't keep it in. The tears poured freely. Leonardo, who sat next to him, put a hand on his shoulder before pulling him into a hug. April who sat on the other side also embraced him.

"It's ok Don, at least he tried. He did his best and now his brothers have a chance. He died for his brothers and he died protecting you," Leo said while patting his brother on the back.

"His death was not in vain my son, I am sure he would not have had it otherwise. He was helping you get home." Splinter stood up and walked to the couch. He placed his hand gently on the shoulder of his sobbing son.

"Leonardo, help your brother to his room. He needs his rest."

"Yes Master Splinter." Leo nodded and then focused on Don. April let go and rose up with them, intending to help. "Come on Don, you have done enough for today."

Father and son watched the two turtles and woman, walk towards the stairs leading up towards where the bedrooms were.

"Raphael, is Michelangelo awake?" Splinter addressed Raph who shrugged.

"He was when I left the room Master Splinter," he answered, the old rat nodded and began walking towards the stairs to ascend to the upper level.

Raphael watched everybody disappear from the lower part of the lair. He half unconsciously picked up the remote for the TV but only stared at it. The turtle then threw it back to the seat beside him and stood up.

"Mikey needs us," he muttered glaring around as if he expected intruders to be lurking nearby before following Master Splinter.

 **End Chapter 13**


	14. Epilogue

**A/N:** Chapter originally written and posted on 29/12 2005

* * *

 **Epilogue**

Donatello stepped out of the elevator and into the old abandoned warehouse. The first thing he noticed was the back door on the Battle-Shell was open. And if the turtle listened carefully he could hear slight movement inside.

 _So he's hiding there now._ Don shook his head. Mikey was still suffering and often hid. The orange clad turtle only appeared during meal times and practice; as soon as opportunity arose, he disappeared.

"This is your newest secret spot?" Don addressed his brother who was burying himself with comic books in the van. The purple-clad turtle jumped into the car and sat in a crouching position near the opening while regarding his brother. Mikey tried to ignore him by reading a comic.

"You are wrong you know," he said grabbing his brother's attention with these words. "You are not a traitor nor did your fail us."

"W-what makes you think… I think that?" Mike whispered but the lack of shock in his voice was a giveaway.

"Well for one how shameful you always look now days, you avoid us, you don't even respond to Master Splinter. Mikey, you had no idea who he was, neither did Leo or Raph or even Splinter. Raph didn't know until it was too late and so did Leo. You didn't fail anybody," Don explained. Mikey didn't respond and just returned to his comic. Donatello sighed wondering how they would pull him through this.

A bright flash of flight interrupted them; it filled the back of the van so the two turtles were forced to avert their eyes. It was soon over and when Don turned to see what that had been he was greeted by a barrel of a familiar laser machine gun.

Right behind the van aiming his laser hand machine gun was the cyborg. Raphael was grimfaced and looked just about ready for anything. He narrowed his eyes on Donatello who was frozen in shock.

"I-I thought he was on our side," Mikey peeped when seeing who was threatening instant death via hot energy beams.

"I thought so too." Don gulped but then the barrel sunk into the cyborg's arm and the hand was pulled out. The cyborg's frown changed into a wide smile.

"Got ya there kid," his canned voice said teasingly. Don and Mike stared back wondering whether they should sigh in relief or attempt pummeling their mechanical friend, risking breaking their hands and feet in the process.

"So Raphael," Don said after his heartbeat had returned to normal. "What brings you here?"

The cyborg walked closer examining the inside of the truck and took his time to look at each of the two turtles.

"The trial is over, former Emperor Donatello has been sentenced to life time imprisonment with therapy to deal with his condition, general election will be held in Turtotopia tomorrow to vote for our first president of the Republic of Turtleland, the United Nations have offered us a seat and status as equals among humans," he finally told them.

"Whoa, wicked," Mikey claimed, momentarily forgetting his own problems.

"So the emperor is emperor no more, what about his lab and all that?" Don asked.

"Some of it will be used for more beneficial means, other more questionable equipment will be dismantled and destroyed," the cyborg explained. "Soon there will be not much left of Turtotopia."

"And you, what about you?" Don inquired.

"Well I live in a secluded area in the country. I could prove that I was always under mind control and thus in no control but people are still nervous when they encounter me so I prefer to simply withdraw myself from sight," Raphael answered. "How have you guys been doing?"

"We live," Don said and glanced back into the truck to see that Mikey had resumed his comic book reading. "Although not all of us are over it."

"Ah, Post-Mind Control Stress." The cyborg diagnosed, Mikey looked up confused. "It happens; you feel like a traitor, you are ashamed by your inactions and not being in control. Trust me, we are experiencing a lot of it from various personnel my brother didn't trust enough to allow free will."

"You will get over it, you're lucky you have such a caring family to help you." Raphael nodded then he looked at Donatello. "Well I must go; I can't stay for too long. I promised April to get back home soon with milk."

"What? You are living with April?" Don raised an eye ridge. The mechanical turtle smiled nervously with the organic half of his mouth.

"Yeah well, I wasn't given a choice in that matter. She said she needs help anyway to raise her still unborn child and she knew I wouldn't be able to maintain all my implants on my own." The cyborg shrugged. "Plus, I have also caught up with old friends, Angela, the woman who named me when I was mutated at the lab and Ted who named Leo."

"Ok, talk about a blast from the past," Donatello chuckled, Raphael smiled.

"Exactly, they had been living in hiding ever since Turtotopia was established. I don't know how they recognized me with my new body and all but they did and came for a visit." The cyborg now backed away couple of steps and picked out a familiar remote from the shoulder pad compartment. "Well kids it was good to see you again, but I have to run or transport would be more accurate."

"Nice seeing you too Raphael, take care." Don waved and so did Mikey.

"Goodbye cyborg dude," he called just as the Raphael was engulfed by bright light and was gone within seconds.

"How cool is that being able to change his hand into a machine gun, basically being a…."

"Mikey, all of this was forced on him and most of it was used for torture and to keep people in check. All without him being able to do anything about it for two or three years, I forget how long. Trust me, he does not think it's cool to by a near indestructible cyborg." Don interrupted his now enthusiastic brother.

"Oh, well that sucks I guess." Mikey sighed and then smiled slightly while rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I thought I had it pretty bad."

"You only got the sample. Be grateful you didn't get the full prize." Donatello grinned and leaped out of the car. "So you going to help me with the routine check or not?"

"You want me to help?" Mikey asked surprise, Don peeked back into the Battle-Shell.

"Well I don't see Raph around or Leo, come on," he said gesturing the orange-clad turtle to come out.

* * *

"'Bout time I found you," Raph landed on the rooftop where Leo stood close to the edge and stared over the city. "You sure put up a good run, you have been…"

Raphael noticed how absent his blue-clad brother was and walked closer. Once he was all the way to his side, the hot-tempered turtle noticed that his brother was staring very attentively into one direction.

"So what are you looking at?" Raphael followed his brother's gaze and stopped short when seeing something on a rooftop much, much further away.

"Is that…?" he growled glancing back at his brother. Leo nodded. His expression was deadly serious. Raph snarled grabbed his sai and was about to go but his brother put a hand on his plastron to stop him.

"Don't, he will simply keep his distance or disappear," Leonardo stated and narrowed his eye on the figure. "He did it yesterday anyway."

"Yesterday? You saw him yesterday?" Raph asked surprised and angry.

"Yes, in my evening run. I tried to pursue him but he always kept his distance and when I actually got close he disappeared," Leo told him. "We will not get near him unless he wants us too."

"That bastard is after Donny you know, for whatever reasons," Raph growled glaring back at the distant person.

"I know," Leo nodded. "He's giving us a message. Telling us that he can come and go as he pleases and he is not yet finished with us."

"We will be ready for him," Raphael grunted spinning his sai with his fingers. Leo smiled and drawing up both his katana and spun them.

"And let's show him that we will be ready," he said and took a battle position making sure that he was seen by the person in the distance. Raphael did likewise.

"He's waving us," Raph remarked. Just then the figure disappeared out of sight.

"Let's go home; I think we should lay low for couple of days just in case." Leonardo put his swords back and turned around. Raphael tucked his sai back in the belt and after taking one final glance at the distant rooftop, he followed Leo back home.

"Oh yes, we will be ready for you punk," he muttered under his breath.

At a further distance on another rooftop, a black clad turtle held up close to his ear what looked like a radio of some sort. Out of it came a familiar gruff voice.

 _"Oh yes, we will be ready for you punk."_

"I'm sure you will Raphael." Leonardo assassin and bounty hunter smiled wide before turning off his radio.

"I'm sure you will." He then picked up his dimension traveler and was swiftly gone through the portal before it was even fully formed.

 **The End**

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's it for Turtotopia, the first fic in the Assassin series and the fic that started it all. Hope you enjoyed reading. On my author forum on Stealthy Stories I posted an afterthought after this story. Link to my forum is on my profile.


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